Moving On
by Lydia Irving
Summary: Dimitri left five years ago to be Tasha's gaurdian, but when he comes for a visit determined to get some closure he gets a suprise. Told in several POVs, rated T just to be safe. I know this has been done before but no two are the same, right?
1. Chapter 1

Five years. I have lasted five years without seeing her face, hearing her voice, touching her skin, without even hearing about her. I knew that I had hurt her in a way that she never deserved, but I had truly believed that I was doing the right thing when I left her, even if I knew that me leaving her for Tasha would just be the cherry on top of a wonderful day.

But all of that control; all of the days that I had thirsted for knowledge of what she was doing, how far she had become in the guardian world, if she was happy were going to end. Because I was going to see it for myself.

Tasha had been kind enough to plan her trips to see her nephew when my breaks came up and I knew that she talked to Lissa regularly so she knew what Rose was up to as well. But she always kept everything away; I don't think she even said her name. But this time Tasha had had enough, insisting that it had been five years and that I needed to start getting some closure, apparently seeing Rose and the life that she created for herself without me was supposed to make me feel better. I was dreading it. I had started driving for Tasha but after seeing how badly my hands were shaking she insisted on taking the wheel. I didn't like to show weakness, but my job was to keep Tasha safe at all costs and I could exactly do that if I was hyperventilating so bad that we went off the road. Tasha hadn't told me much, only that we were going to Rose's house to meet her, Lissa, Christian and their little boy, Andre. And that they lived in a small town in Pennsylvania. I expected Rose to have an apartment but the drive way that we pulled into was long and wooded, far out of the way from the rest of the people who must have lived somewhere near buy. It was beautiful. The trees were all lush and green and they all seemed to bow over the rock driveway. I hadn't seen Rose in a long time but I doubted that her style had changed that much. Rose always needed to be in the middle of the action so this secluded quite area was definably a shock. Maybe Tasha had just made a mistake and meant that we were going to Lissa's and Christians.

When the house finally came in to view I knew that it had to be Lissa's. It was positively huge, a large log cabin with stone at the bottom. It had several large glass windows and an amazing rock patio. I even spotted a fire place at another small patio at the top of the stairs. It was huge and intimidating, but looked strangely cozy; I could imagine a little Andre playing around in the yard and roasting marshmallows in the beautiful fireplace. For a minute my happiness for Lissa and Christens successful life together smothered my worry. But just for a minute.

As we parked the car three kids came running out of the house. One was a little boy and there were two small girls. The one was ahead of the group and made an awful lot of noise coming down the stairs. The boy was next trying desperately to keep up with the girl he was loosing to, and then a small little thing that was lagging behind. Suddenly the girl in front stopped and ran back to get the girl who had to be her sister. They were identical aside from the fact that the one little girl was so much tinier. They both had dark curly hair and even from this far away I could see that they had big dark eyes. The one girl was tan but her quite twin looked more delicate, like her skin was made from porcelain. They were beautiful little girls.

Andre was taking advantage of the girls sticking together; he ran up and gave Tasha a huge hug. He was pale, like all Moroi and had Christian's black hair but Lissa's jade green eyes.

"Aunt Tasha!" He screamed, hugging her tighter.

"Hey little man! Look how big you got!" Andre was trying not to smile at that comment but he failed miserably. The two girls finally made it, although it looked like one was doing the pulling while the other got dragged along.

"Tasha!" The bigger one yelled, she had a cute high pitched voice but it was very loud. The kind of voice that would render people deaf if she had a tantrum, and something told me she had a lot of those. "Hey Sophie!" Tasha said sweeping her up in a hug. It surprised me that they knew each other so well; I had thought that they were just friends of Andre.

The smaller of the girls didn't say anything; she just gave a little wave to Tasha and a small, shy smile up at me. She was just so tiny!

Tasha had called the little one Claire. Clair tugged on her sister's sleeve and Sophie looked over to see what she wanted. Claire made a few small movements with her hands and Sophie turned to us again.

"Claire says hello." She said in that voice of hers. It was only then that I realized that Claire was speaking sign language.

I waved hello to her.

"Hey, you're really tall. Are you like that giant in the book? The one who says funny rhymes?" She obviously wasn't shy like her sister, but the way that she spoke was humorous, she seemed so smart for a girl her age.

Tasha laughed, "Yep, so you guys better show us inside or he might eat you." Andre looked scared but Sophie gave Tasha a look that said "Yeah right" and then signed something to her sister. I'm guessing that she told her what Tasha said because she had a look that mirrored Andres'.

"Fine I'll show you where the house is. But not cause I'm scare'ded. Just cause I'm sick of bein outside." She grabbed my hand and started towing me toward the steps with determined little strides.

If only I had her confidence.


	2. Chapter 2

I could not believe that this was happening. Was this some sort of cosmic joke? Like, let's make Rose's life all good and happy for a while and then just throw in a few surprises to keep it interesting…hmmm, maybe her ex-lover and father of her children would make a good candidate. This was probably the worst thing that could happen to her. Scratch that, it _was_ the worst thing that could happen to her!

Lissa had waited until the last minute to tell me that Dimitri was coming. She couldn't even give me an hours notice, which I was sure would be enough time to pack up the girls and take a spontaneous trip out of the country. Lissa had waited until they were _pulling up the driveway. _She had given a little "I am so excited that Tasha is coming. Oh yeah, and Dimitri is coming to" before running out of room.

I leaned against the counter and put my head in my hands, trying to work up the nerve to be at least a semi-sane person so when Dimitri and Tasha made their way into the house I would look completely indifferent. So far, it wasn't working. I had spent the last five years trying to stop loving and hating Dimitri all at the same time. When he had left I was so heart broken I could hardly stand it. I locked myself up in my room for days and didn't even let Lissa come in. When she finally had enough of my crap she came to my door and told me what a horrible friend I was being for not letting her in to comfort me, finally she had won the argument and I let her in, both literally and metaphorically. I told her everything. About me and Dimitri having a forbidden attraction, the lust spell, the incident with Tasha, and finally the cabin. She had sat silent through the whole thing and when I was finally done, had broken down and cried with me.

I was finally starting to get back on my feet when the morning sickness started. I knew that my period was late, but I didn't want to believe that something like that could happen to me. The only person that I ever had sex with was a Dhampir so it was physically impossible for me to be pregnant. Right?

Wrong.

Lissa finally made me go to the nurse's office where they handed me this tiny little white stick.

I had to pee on that thing for fifteen seconds (who can pee for that long?) and then wait for something to show up on the screen. When that little pink plus sign came up I sat down on the floor and cried. How could something so little carry so much grief on it?

I wasn't exactly sure how, but I knew that this was Dimitri's baby. Something in that fact kept me from having an abortion, which lead to an event a few weeks later when I found out that I wasn't having a baby. I was having two. I don't really remember exactly what happened that day, but I'm pretty sure I yelled something like "Are you shitting me!" and ran out of the office. Not before throwing a few things, of course. Needless to say I wasn't welcome back there, but I found a new doctor shortly after.

I had thought that nothing could get worse in my situation, but once again I was proven wrong when I went into labor way to early, giving birth to two twins that were too small. Sophie was three pounds, but Claire was just a little more then two. But I don't think that I cried harder then I did when I found out that Claire was deaf. After that everything made me cry. I remember one night when I woke up on the couch after finally getting Sophie to sleep. Claire was a fantastic sleeper, but Sophie was a difficult everything. I had turned the TV on for some background noise that seemed to help Sophie sleep. When I woke up some animal program was on talking about how a baby can find its mother just by the sound of her voice. I spent the rest of that night rocking Sophie, crying just as hard as she was. It wasn't to long after that that I decided to start learning sign language. I went to classes and read books for a whole year, and then when Sophie started to say some words I taught them both. Sophie could speak sign language better then she could speak at the age of two, and by the age of three they could both sign well enough for me to understand them. Although Sophie was never outspoken, she made sure that she had enough voice for her and her sister both. Lissa and Christian had learned too, and when Lissa gave birth to Andre he learned as well.

The most surprising though was Adrian. He had been a friend, labor coach, uncle to my kids, and then finally a boyfriend. I think he knew that I still loved Dimitri, but that didn't put a damper on his kindness. He was the one who actually suggested the sign language course to everyone.

When the girls were two, he had asked me to marry him. He said he knew that I could never love him like I loved Dimitri but that he wanted me and the twins to be taken care of. He bought us out house, which he definably splurged on, and became a father to Sophie and Claire, even though they alternated between calling him daddy and Uncle Adrian.

But now here he was. After all these years to ruin everything for me, I secretly wondered if he would be disappointed for me quitting my guardian duty. It had been a rough decision, but I had the girls to worry about.

Sophie's voice carried in from outside, she was talking to who I imagined were Dimitri and Tasha about how her mommy said that she could be what ever she wanted to when she was older and she decided that she wanted to be a ninja.

I sat up and smoothed down my shirt, a pretty red blouse, and fixed my jeans. I did a quick makeup check in the reflective metal of the toaster. Sophie threw the door open with a loud bang, something I was constantly telling her not to do, and lead our guests into the kitchen.

I planed to look dignified by keeping my head up straight, but all I got was an eye full of a really nice, really buff chest. I had forgotten how tall he was. Bracing myself I looked up and met his eyes, they were just like I remembered. I deep beautiful brown that I could get lost in; much like I was now. A jerk to my sleeve made me look away. Claire was there. _Sophie said that the tall man is going to eat me. _

_Sophie was just joking, would I let someone eat you? _

_No…but Sophie said—_

I cut her off with a shake of my head but I could tell she was still worried. Her beautiful brown eyes, ones that perfectly matched her fathers, were turned up along with her eyebrows which were furrowed in the middle.

"Sophie, did you tell Claire that Dimitri was going to eat her?"

"Nooooo…I told Claire that Tasha said he was goin' to eat 'er." I sighed at my daughters answer; she always had something to say.

"Sorry" Tasha said with a shrug before coming over and giving me a big hug.

"Hello, Dimitri." I said, trying to be brave.

"It's good to see you again, Rose." He said before looking between me and the girls. "Are these your daughters?"

"yes, this is Sophie and Claire. Girls, this is Dimitri. He was my teacher back when I went to school." He didn't look surprised when I said that they were mine but I wasn't sure if this was disinterest or his guardian mask in place.

Looking at him again, I could help but feel sad that my life was as lonely as it was. And I didn't mean alone alone. I had my daughters; they meant the world to me. I would do anything for them, and I had my friends. But in the past five years I hadn't had a romantic relationship. I was married to Adrian, but we weren't much of a couple. We tried at first but I always felt like there was something missing, we kissed and shared a room and acted like a normal married couple, but it was more like we were just going through the motions for Sophie and Claire. It was no secrete between us that Adrian had flings with other girls. Even long term relationships with others, I hated that I tied him down with a marriage that we weren't even into, but he insisted that someone need to be there for me and the twins.

But what if Dimitri had stayed? What if we had raised our daughters together? Now here I was watching the man I loved look at the daughters that he didn't even know were his. And he would be looking at them for the next two weeks. Surly that is long enough for him to find out, or at least get suspicious.

Long enough for him to ruin the perfect illusion that I have kept up of the last five years.

**Sorry if this has some spelling and grammar mistakes, something is going on with my computer and it is giving me trouble. Thank you for all the positive reviews! Hope you enjoyed this!**

**xoxo, Lydia **


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting out here by the fire always relaxed me. Five years ago I could never sit still for this long just watching the orange flames lick the metal of the stove, but having children really softened me up. Sophie will never be able to be a completely normal kid because she will always have to look out for Claire. There are parties she won't go to, boyfriends she won't have, and years that she will suffer all because of some freak accident. Claire would never hear things that I constantly took for granted. The sound of dry crunching leaves in the winter, little Andre's hilarious laugh that sent us all into fits of giggles just hearing it, or her fathers beautiful calm voice that has been tearing my heart open for the past few hours. But I guess if she can't hear it, then she won't miss it when it's gone.

Dinner had been completely awkward with all of us together at one table. Dimitri had started glaring at Adrian as soon as he came home to a big hug from me and the girls and then saw the ring on my finger; piecing two and two together. That just wasn't fair; he was the one who left me.

Adrian looked really uncomfortable the whole time, probably because a really ripped, really tall Russian guy was giving him the death glare over our dinning room table that he could possibly rip in half to get to Adrian's throat. Tasha, clueless as always was talking about some trip that she went on recently and I just sat there looking at my plate and moving the food around with my fork. Sophie, of course, talked over everyone the whole time while Claire did the exact same thing that I was doing.

So now here I was, sitting on my patio watching the sunrise and feeling sorry for myself.

The door opened behind me,

"Rose," It was Tasha.

"Hey can I talk to you?"

"Sure Tasha." I said in my overly friendly "mom voice" moving over so se could sit next to me on the bench.

"Look, I was never really sure how you felt about Dimitri. I mean, I know that you guys had a relationship before, but I was talking about how you feel about him now. He still loves you Rose, he hasn't been the same since he left you. And I swear I don't know how he even gets himself about of bed everyday when it seems like just smiling takes so much effort.

And I know you love him back. Even married to Adrian, you love him back. I know he is the father of your kids and I never liked the idea that he didn't know about them, so please, please just give him a shot. He would be such a good dad and a really great husband. You guys deserve to be happy." To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. All this time I had thought that Dimitri and Tasha had a relationship, but finding out that he still cared about me was almost too much to hope for.

"Tasha, he left me! I was so scared and alone and angry. How am I supposed to tell him that he has kids? How do I explain to him that as much as I loved him, I hated him so much that I couldn't even call him to tell him that he was going to be a father? That would kill him, Tasha. You know it would. If he knew that all this time I have been suffering because he left, he would never forgive himself. And to be quite honest, I don't know if I am ready to forgive him yet."

Tasha sighed, "Just think about it. Please?"

I told her yes, and she went back inside, leaving me alone with my guilt.

DPOV

Seeing that ring on her finger was my undoing. From the outside, you would never be able to tell that there was such turmoil raging inside me, if felt like my heart was breaking into a million little pieces watching her with her happy new family. She lived a lavish life that I never would have been able to provide for her, she had Adrian as a husband, although I knew she could do better, and two beautiful little girls who were the most perfect things that I had ever seen. They were both so tiny and innocent, perfect little clean slates that had never been marred by the true horrors of the world. And even though I wanted to feel nothing toward them for being Adrian's daughters, they were also Rose's. Actually, I think I would love them even if they weren't hers.

Sophie was so much like Rose, strong willed and opinionated, even at her young age I could tell she was a handful. But she was also passionate and protective; the whole time through dinner, when ever her sister wanted to say something to me and Tasha, Sophie would translate. She even taught us a few simple words. Claire was like her polar opposite. She was tiny and shy, but oh-so sweet. I think she could have melted the strongest of hearts with those big brown eyes and little smile.

But even as the twins captured my attention, their mother was the main thing on my mind. She sat at the head of the table looking like a queen, even with her tired eyes and much-loved sweater she could look completely elegant.

Adrian just looked infuriating. He sauntered in smelling like perfume and walked right up to his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She had to have smelt that he had come from being with another woman, but all she did was give him a knowing little smile like it was no big deal. Didn't he know what he had? He had everything that I had ever wanted and he mistreated it like it was nothing.

Tasha just walked in from outside, that was a good idea. Being outside in the air would clear my head.

I opened the door but was tempted to shut it again when I saw who was there.

Rose was looking at the fire, deep in thought. I could tell from the little crease she had in the middle of her forehead. Drawing in my deepest courage, I sat down next to her.

"I'm really happy for you, Rose." I said, it was only a half truth. I was happy that she had such a fantastic life; I just wished that I had been the one to share it with her instead of that bastard, Ivashkov.

"Thank you, I'm happy too."

"There're beautiful girls, they look just like you. I don't see much of Adrian though."

"He's not the father" What? Well that was a plus, maybe the father was someone at least halfway decent. Well, he couldn't be too great if he had left them.

"Really? Who is it then?"

"Dimitri, I really don't want to talk about it." I was insanely curious, but I didn't want to bring anything up that would make her uncomfortable. This was my first time talking to her in five years, I wanted to make it last as long as possible.

"So, you're not a guardian anymore?" she winced. Whoops.

"No, I had planned on going back after they were born, but with Claire…"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. They are the most important; I know everything has been about the Moroi and how they come first. But even with how much I love Lissa and even with the bond, it all got so much less complicated when they were born. I know that doesn't make any sense, but it just put everything into perspective for me. Family comes first. Always."

If it was even possible, her little speech made me love her even more. She had given up everything for those girls.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn all the sign language?" she laughed,

"How did you learn English, Comrade." The familiar name sent a jolt through my heart.

"Adrian seems like a really nice guy." I said after a moment of silence. Total lie, he was a cheating bastard.

"Don't lie." I don't know how she knew what I was thinking. She wasn't even looking at me, which was probably good. If she did she would see the hatred in it.

"What?"

"I saw your face when he came in, you don't like him anymore then you did five years ago. And I know perfectly well where he came from before he got home." So she knew that he was being unfaithful, but she didn't do anything? That didn't sound like the Rose I knew.

"If you know then why don't you do anything about it?"

She took a deep breath, "Adrian is legally my husband, but it is mostly just sort of like an agreement between us. He was the one who took care of me when I had the girls and he wanted us to be in a stable position. Because of him I have health care and life insurance, and a house to come home to every night. The girls even know that he isn't their dad, although that's just because I hate tying him down. That way if he wants out because he found someone, then they will know that they didn't lose a father."

I tried to look indifferent, but I was screaming on the inside. Rose wasn't with Ivashkov! He was taking care of her! I silently swore to never have an ill thought toward him again.

Rose stood up suddenly, and I couldn't help the rush of sadness that came over me when I realized our time was up.

"I'm going to read Sophie and Claire a story before bed."

"Do you mind if I help?"

She smiled slightly at that, "No, I'd like that a lot actually.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry if this story is moving too fast, I try to keep it at a good pace so it can be a little more suspenseful, but in the end I always want to get ahead to the good parts. I mean, who doesn't want as much of Dimitri as they can get? **

**Also, I know that the plot is a little…clichéd, but as much I love Dimitri, I couldnt stand to make Adrian a bystander when bad things were happening to Rose. I wanted him to be the same funny, sarcastic, self centered Adrian that we all know and love. But I wanted to show a little soft side that I think Adrian could be hiding. **

**Thank you all so much for the reviews!**

**xoxo**

**-Lydia**

DPOV

Sophie and Claire's bedroom looked like it could have come out of a magazine. The walls were a light pink color and the white rug had several big pink circles sewn into it, each of the girls' beds was against a wall and they were covered in patch quits. Both beds had a canopy draped over it. I remember when I was little; my sisters complained that their rooms were ugly. I never really understood how a room could be ugly, until I saw this one. It was every little girls dream.

When Rose signed and spoke at the same time that it was time for bed, both girls had run ahead of us. Claire's little legs brought her right over to the bed as fast as possible but Sophie took long slow steps with a big pout on her sweet face the whole time.

"Sophie doesn't like to read," Rose explained. Something in her tone told me that she could understand that perfectly well.

"I don't like books 'for bed. I tink that we should pway tag."

"If you played tag before bed then you would get all wound up. I have enough trouble getting you asleep as it is."

Sophie sighed and climbed into bed, making sure that everyone was clear on how unhappy she was with this situation. I suppose that some people would think that she was stubborn, and she was, but I couldn't see it as a bad thing. Not when she was so much like her mother.

Rose sat on Sophie's bed, telling me that Sophie like to see the pictures but Claire only liked to see the words. Rose began reading the story about the frog prince; every time she got close to flipping the page she would lean over so Sophie could see the illustrations. Claire on the other had watched Rose unwaveringly as she signed out the words that she was reading. Occasionally, Claire could clap her hands to get her mothers attention and then she would sign out something. When Rose replied she always phrased her answer so anyone could tell what Claire had just asked. I was sure she was doing this for my benefit and I couldn't be happier that she was letting me into this safe little world that she made with her daughters.

Looking at all of their faces, I had never felt more at home.

Rose POV

After reading the girls there favorite story; the one that I knew every word of by heart, I shut off the lights and gave them both a kiss on the cheek and then I made sure that both girls had their half of their "Blanket". It was actually an old t-shirt that I had worn all the time when they were babies. When they were a little older then two, I caught them both playing tug-of-war with it. Eventually, I had just cut it in half so they could both have a side. They never went to sleep without their half of that ratty old t-shirt.

I walked Dimitri out of the room and silently told him to come down to the kitchen with me. The kitchen was one of my least favorite parts of the house. It was freaking immaculate and I could hardly cook, it always made me feel so insignificant. Like someone who had a kitchen like this should be a five star chef. I quickly grabbed some ice cream out of the freezer, not even bothering with bowls. I just took two spoons and the carton and motioned for him to come outside. When we were both situated on the bench I looked up at his face to find it thoroughly amused.

"What?" I asked defensively.

He raised an eyebrow, something I had never learned to do, and said "Really? A whole thing of ice cream?"

"Oh, don't act so shocked. We both know that I have the appetite of a man, and you have the appetite of a very tall man. Each of us could probably down a whole carton by ourselves."

He laughed and daringly took a spoon, acting like it was a big deal he stuck it into the ice cream and came out with a huge wad that he stuffed in his mouth. Well I wasn't about to let him beat me. I took a spoonful just as big, if not bigger, and tried to stuff the whole thing in my mouth. I ended up with most of it dribbling down my chin. Well that was attractive.

Dimitri just laughed and used his thumb to clear it away from the corners of my mouth. He was oh-so close to my lips and every memory of our life at the academy came flooding back. By the look in his eyes, I could tell the same thing was happening to him.

He brought his face toward mine slowly; my heart was thumping in my chest the whole time, wanting him to move away but at the same time never wanting him to stop.

When his lips finally touched mine, all I could think about was, "this is Dimitri! You are kissing Dimitri.!"

But the last thought that I had before my mind completely turned into a big foggy mess from the way that Dimitri's lips were moving against mine, was that things just got a hell of a lot more complicated.

But if that was the price to pay for being with Dimitri like this again, I would take it with a smile.


	5. Important AN

**Hey guys, **

**I won't be updating for a while because I'm going on vacation and I don't know if I will find the time to write and update this story. I still have a lot of plans for it though, so please hang in there :D I have a long car ride coming up so I will try to at least get a chapter or two written. **

**Again, thank you all soooo much for the reviews, I wouldn't be able to keep writing without them; they make my whole day :D Love you all 3 **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	6. Chapter 5

**Well, I'm back! I am sooo sorry that I have taken so long to update, as I said in my AN I was on vacation so I didn't have a chance to do any writing. I will try to make up for all the lost time as best as I can! **

**Thank you all for being so patient!**

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **

DPOV

Being with Rose was just as easy as I remembered. Except now I knew how to fully appreciate how wonderful she was. I hung on to every word that came out of her mouth, each one more fascinating then any book I had ever read, each facial expression made me realize how beautiful she was and the way that she spoke with her hands to emphasize her point was so humorous that I was holding back a smile the entire time I was talking to her.

But the best part was that Ivashkov wasn't in the picture.

All that time of sending death glares his way was totally and completely wasted because _she didn't want him!_ She wanted me! The most beautiful, talented, caring, funny, determined woman in the world wanted me. The thought alone made me smile so big that my cheeks hurt. I don't remember ever being this happy.

RPOV

I was going to tell him. I wasn't sure about it before but that kiss was pretty damn convincing. And how could I not tell him? Now that he was back in my life and obviously wanted me, he had every right to know that he was a father. He was going to be so happy; I could just see the way his face would scrunch up trying to ponder what I just told him. He wouldn't believe it at first; it was believed to be impossible after all. But then he would think about how they looked, how Claire acted so much like himself and then slowly his face would light up just like mine did the first time I held the twins in my arms.

Imagine the life we could have together! Sure, it would be hard to break the news to Adrian. I know he likes supporting us. But after we move out then he will be free to do what he wants; he can date whomever without having to explain our odd situation and he could finally be the crazy, carefree, drunk Adrian that he was when I first met him. It wasn't my favorite idea; I liked the respectful, sober Adrian; but now he would be able to be himself without having our weight on his shoulders.

I giggled like a little girl once I got into my room. I hadn't felt this carefree in years.

I looked around the room and let out a sigh. Adrian had made sure that I had a nice place to go to when the day was done; a place where everything was tranquil and relaxing. He really didn't know me at all.

As soon as I had full reign I decorated the room as I wanted it. It was all red and black and compared to the rest of the houses cozy charm, it was extremely modern. It was so…me.

This was the one place where I could go and not feel like a mom or "wife", not that I didn't like being those things. Sophie and Claire were the most important things in my life. But this room, it reminded me of the old Rose. The one that was reckless and stupid, the one who was going to be Princess Valissa Dragomir's guardian after graduation and wasn't going to let a damn thing get in her way. The one who was completely in love with the wrong guy but didn't care.

I flopped down on my silk sheets; Dimitri's kiss still burning on my lips. His lips were just like I remembered them being, and I remembered pretty well considering I had been fantasizing about them for five years now. They were soft and warm and loving; with him it never felt like one of us was in charge, as was the case with many past boyfriends, but we were equals. Even when he had been my mentor we were equals.

I had woken up early to go for a run, as was my daily ritual, and then took a nice cool shower, preparing myself for the day. My morning routine always relaxed me and I was feeling pretty good.

Until it came to picking out what to wear.

I know it was ridiculous; Dimitri had always thought I was beautiful, even in the most undesirable situations. But this morning I felt the strange urge to impress. I wanted to show Dimitri that I was still the fun-loving, sexy woman he fell in love with. The only problem? I haven't exactly been up to my usual fun-loving, sexy standards in…I don't know? Five years or so?

Sure, I still had the same taste in clothing and pregnancy had been kind to me; I suffered none of the usual horrors like fat and stretch marks, but that didn't mean that I hadn't toned down the more promiscuous Rose that I once was.

Eventually I settled for a pair of cute skinny jeans and a long plaid, blue shirt that was tied at the waist. It wasn't anything special, and plaid defiantly wasn't one of my usual "things" but it was casual enough to say "I didn't spend any time getting ready this morning. I just always look this good." And sexy enough to say "have you noticed how great my ass looks in these jeans?"

I left my hair down, partly because I was too lazy to do it and partly because I knew that Dimitri absolutely loved my hair. As usual, I didn't wear any shoes to walk around the house with.

I went down stairs to make breakfast. Something that I still struggled with even after all these years. Adrian had offered to hire a maid, saying that he greatly appreciated me cooking for him, but if he had to suffer through another one of my meals he might just take the kids and run.

I now had spaghetti mastered along with some other simple dishes like grilled cheese, but I cooked pancakes every morning religiously. I may not be good in the kitchen, but I make some mean pancakes.

I immersed myself in my work, so much that I didn't even hear anyone coming down the stairs until a voice behind me said, "You cook?"

I must have jumped five feet in the air, meanwhile flinging the pancake I was about to flip. It did a quick somersault in the air and then landed uncooked side first, on Dimitri's head.

Um, can anyone say "oh, shit?"

I looked up slowly, eyeing the pancake that was now making a slow crawl down the side of Dimitri's face and silently cursing it for landing _there _of all places.

My face reddened in shame. And then,

It hit me.

I cracked a smile and started to giggle; my giggles turning into full blown hysterics as I took in the sight before me.

Dimitri was obviously trying to hold back his smile, but as my laughing became more and more out of control, so did his.

I bent over, grabbing the table, my entire body racking with laughter. I opened my tear filled eyes to see him laughing as hard as I was and lifting the pancake off of his face revealing a large wet splotch of pancake batter that trailed all the way down his face.

Which only made us laugh more.

Now we were grabbing on to the table, the counter, and or dear life, trying to control the most uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh….my God!" I gasped, hardly able to choke the words out.

Still giggling I grabbed a wash cloth and wet it with hot water under the tap. Leaning forward, I tried to clean off the trail of goo. I met his eyes as I slowly stroked his cheek with the rag.

His eyes still locked on to mine, he grabbed my free hand that was resting at my side and pulled me even closer to him, his lips finally meeting mine for the second time in so long.

This kiss didn't have any of the lasts desperation. It was soft and slow and impossibly sweet.

Still holding onto the rag, I wound both my arms around his neck. Standing on my tip toes in order to reach him better. This was completely unnecessary because Dimitri swung me up onto the counter behind me, kissing me with new fervor.

"Mommy?"

Well damn.

**Okay, so I know that this chapter is pretty pointless and fluffy but this story will probably have much more pointless fluff then action. **

**I promise, I wont make you guys sit through countless chapters of drama between Rose and Dimitri, but anything more exciting will most likely be in later chapters.**

**Again, thank all of you for hanging in there for my long break :D I seriously can not even stress how much every review means to me 3**


	7. Chapter 6

I unwillingly yanked my lips off of Dimitri's to look into my daughters confused brown eyes. A thousand ways to explain the situation ran through my head all at once, all ways to excuse something that was completely inexcusable.

_But you don't have to. It's okay for you to be with him now; you don't have anything to hide. _

I was dizzy with all the emotions threatening to overwhelm me. I had almost forgotten that we didn't have to hide anymore; I was no longer his student.

But that didn't make explaining to my five year old why my tongue was down some guys throat any easier.

"Mommy, what are you doing to Dimitri?"

I turned my worried glance to him, trying to see if he knew how to handle a situation like this. By the look on his face, he didn't.

"Uh….um, well…"

"Mommy, are you and Dimitri having sex?"

This wasn't getting any easier.

My jaw dropped. Did Sophie seriously just ask me about that? I couldn't remember being five years old, but I was pretty damn sure that I didn't know about that "stuff" quite so young. And I had always been careful; almost never using bad language in front of them, keeping all movies PG once they actually knew what was going on enough to repeat what they saw. But this; this was seriously disturbing and very uncomfortable considering me and Dimitri were still very much locked together.

"Sophie, where did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That…that, word."

"Sex? I heard it on a movie Uncle Adrian was watching."

"Where you watching a movie you weren't supposed to?

"Noooo, Uncle Adrian said I could."

"Oh, he did?"

"Yep." She said simply, popping the sound on the P.

I looked at Dimitri again; he looked like he was caught between laughing and deciding whether or not I need restraining.

Restraining was most likely the safest option, because I was seriously contemplating killing Adrian. He _knew _the rules I kept about what the girls saw or heard. Claire was easier, because as long as she didn't know the signs for the words, she could never repeat them. But Sophie, Sophie was just like me. And it scared the hell out of me.

I knew very well that I was not, still not, the easiest person to deal with. I had a crazy temper that ran hot and cold, a mouth like a sailor, and a wicked right hook that I liked to use on anyone who pissed me off.

And right now, my sweet innocent little daughter was asking me if I was sleeping with Dimitri.

I really thought I had few more years before crap like this started happening.

I sighed really big, and said "Sophie, why don't you go wake Claire up and tell her to come down for breakfast. And I don't want you saying that word anymore, okay? It's bad."

"Okay, mommy." She shuffled back to her room.

I finally untangled my legs from Dimitri's waist, just as he took his arms from around my neck. I wasn't one to blush, but my face was beet red as looked back up at him. I seemed at a complete loss for words.

"I…I should finish making breakfast."

"Do you want some help?"

"You know how to cook?"

He rolled his eyes, "Roza, if _you _can cook—"

"Whoa! Hey, as a matter-of-fact I can cook very well."

"Really?" he said disbelieving, but I detected a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, really. I make pancakes every morning and I even made lasagna the other night."

"She burnt the lasagna!" came Adrian's voice from the living room.

"Adrian Ivashkov! Right now is not the time to make comments on my cooking!"

He was going to be in so much trouble, he must have known this too because he switched the TV off and peeked his head around the corner.

"What did I do?" he sounded worried.

I didn't exactly know what to say to him, I mean, how was I supposed to explain what Sophie said without explaining what me and Dimitri were doing. I knew it wouldn't hurt his feelings or anything, but I didn't exactly want to share my privet business with Adrian.

"Sophie said a…inappropriate word today. She said she learned it from a movie you said it was okay for her to watch." He obviously knew he was in a bad position. He was shifting from foot to foot and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Look, whatever. Just don't do it again. Okay?"

I think my words surprised all three of us. I never ever let a fight go like that. Especially with something that concerned my kids. But at the moment, I really wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Dimitri always tested my control, but he also made it stronger. Just being with his strong presence made me more rational and less hot tempered.

I wasn't going to lie, I was pissed. But I could deal with Adrian later.

"Okay, Comrade. So you wanna help me make some pancakes?"

He smiled an adorable half smile, "You sure you need help? I thought you were a chef now?"

I smiled back, "Nope, just the greatest pancake maker in the world. Feel free to worship at my feet or build a shrine in my honor."

"I might do just that." He said with a roll of his eyes. I had to laugh; even after all these years we could go back to our comfortable banter. Hell, even after making out on my kitchen counter with pancake batter dripping all over his head we could go back to our comfortable banter.

8888888888888888888

By the time we had all of the pancakes made and the table set, everybody was awake. I sat at the head of the table with Dimitri on my right and Tasha at my left. Adrian was at the other end of the table and Sophie was next to Dimitri, Claire was in the seat next to Tasha.

"Mommy, at school Mrs. B asked us what we wanted to be when we grew' ed up and I said I wanted to be a guardian. But Patrick said that that was stupid and he wanted to be a knight. I said that was stupid because everyone knows that knights kill dragons, but dragons aren't even real!"

Sophie went on and on (and on and on and on) for a long time, her face getting more and more animated as she went on with her story. It was the cutest thing, watching her tell us about problems that seemed so important in her safe little world while signing her entire rant rapidly so Claire could understand. Claire's innocent brown eyes watched her sister's hands with rapt attention. She idolized her sister; constantly following her everywhere and game for anything Sophie wanted to do. At first it bothered me that she was so dependent on her sister, but then I realized she wasn't dependent, she just had a great respect for her. People warned me that it would be good for her in the future; she wouldn't always have Sophie to watch after her. But something inside me said that she would. They reminded me of Lissa and me.

The one always protecting the other, not even realizing that even though the one put herself out there to keep the other from harm, she need Claire just as much. Each trait canceled each other out and brought out only the best in each other.

It hurt to know that I had failed as Lissa's guardian because I chose my kids instead, but even now I was still helping her. I could sacrifice everything in the whole world, but I could never sacrifice our friendship.

I felt a small brush against my leg; I looked down to see Dimitri's hand resting on my knee. He wasn't looking at me though. He was looking at Sophie and Claire, watching their every move with a small smile on his face and love in his eyes that surprised me.

Even if he didn't know they were his yet, they still were.

We all were.

**Hey guys :D I just realized that in my last chapter I had a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. I did fix them, but then I realized that I forgot to save my edited version and by accident posted my first copy. The chapter went the same, but I just had things a little more polished. So, sorry if those errors confused anyone :D **

**Thank you for the reviews! **

**Xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	8. Chapter 7

DPOV

I was walking around Rose's property, trying to find a trace of her somewhere. Rose had liked lavish things, but she hadn't felt dependent on them. That knowledge made me sure that much of this, if not all, was Adrian's idea. It was a little watered down for Adrian, but I figured most of that reason was because he had two five year old girls living under the roof. It wouldn't exactly be appropriate for them if he turned his house into the Playboy Mansion.

I heard foot steps behind me and tensed. But as a soft hand came over my shoulder, I felt my body relax and then shudder as my heart rate sped up at the thought of Rose being here. Touching me. The woman really was a force to be reckoned with.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, her voice strangely hesitant; something that instantly made me nervous.

"Of course, Roza." I said, surprised that I was able to keep my voice so calm. If something made _Rose _ill at ease, then I had better watch out.

I looked at her worried expression as she sunk down onto the grass, patting the ground next to her so I would follow.

Her clear brown eyes were troubled and unfocused; obviously thinking about something other then what was going on right now. I wanted more then anything to shake her shoulders and demand that she tell me what had her acting so abnormal, but I had a feeling that it would only make things worse. Listening to my better judgment, I stayed silent and waited for her to continue with whatever she thought was so important.

She took a deep breath and began, "Dimitri, this isn't easy to say, and before I tell you, I want you to keep in mind that I know how silly and wrong what I did was. But I have regretted my decision not to tell you earlier every single moment you have been here. I did what I did because I was angry and upset and I know that this is going to be hard to take in, but please, just promise me you won't jump to any conclusions until I'm done saying what I have to say."

Okay, now I was defiantly nervous.

Rose took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, looking like she was drawing all of her strength. "I haven't been with anyone else but you Dimitri. Sophie and Claire are yours.

RPOV

I closed my eyes tight and waited for his reaction. I knew it was a cowardly thing to do, but for craps sake! I was nervous! I knew my fantasy had shown Dimitri accepting everything without a second thought, but if there was anything I'd learned in life it was that you don't always get exactly what you ask for. Life's a bitch, and if you asked the universe for something, it would take it and twist it around until you were on your knees begging for everything to just go back to the way it was.

I heard Dimitri draw in a breath beside me and I opened my eyes slowly, checking his reaction. When I looked up into his eyes, I saw a conflict raging there. Flashes of rage and hope and disbelieve all swam in those beautiful brown depths, each emotion leaving just as soon as they came.

"_What?_" he let out in another gust of breath, he sounded like he just ran a marathon.

I took another deep breath, bracing myself for the long exclamation I was about to deliver. "I found out a little bit after you left with Tasha. I started feeling sick, I was always tired…just a whole bunch of things that I ignored, it sounded like something normal, ya know? I mean, there are a lot of things that those are symptoms of.

"And then one day Lissa was rambling on and on about heavy flow and cramps and saying something like "If I get anymore bloated I wont be able to button my pants" and it just sort of…clicked."

I felt my eyes tear up as I went on to the next part of the story, the part that shamed more then I could stress, "I was scared. I kept telling myself that Lissa was more important then kids who weren't even born yet and that without you here I wouldn't be able to take care of them. I actually sat down in my room and made a list of all the reasons these babies were just messing up my plan. I got so far as scheduling an abortion. But I just-I couldn't…do it."

I finally looked up at Dimitri, his eyes showed so much sadness and concern…but behind all of that, I saw the disappointment, rage, and the worst, self loathing. I knew he was blaming himself for leaving me with that burden.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

This was another part of the story that put me to shame. "I was mad. For a really, really long time. I just kept thinking that, if you didn't want me then you wouldn't want them. I just couldn't do it…I felt bitter for a long time. It lasted until the girls were about a year old, but by then I thought it was too late to tell you. I didn't want you to be mad at me for keeping it from you. So I just…moved on.

"But, if you were worried about my reaction why are you telling me now?" I noticed that Dimitri still had this crazy look in his eyes, like he didn't know what to make of this. I also noticed that he wasn't asking questions that would make this situation even more surreal, like, how we could have kids if we were both Dhamphirs. I could tell that he was asking questions that could be explained rationally, ones that had easy answers. And as much as I wanted him to just accept it, I knew exactly the kind of shock he was going through.

"I don't know, I guess being here with you, like we were before, it just opened my eyes. I've spent the last five years telling myself that we didn't need you because we were perfectly happy the way we were. But then I started thinking. About how much you seemed to love the girls and how much they love you, how much…I…love you." I trailed off at that last part, not even realizing what I said until after it left my mouth.

I had loved him for the past five years, I never stopped. But that didn't mean he felt the same; Dimitri was a nice, smart and insanely good looking guy who had been living with Tasha, who was not only beautiful, but was also completely into him. Needless to say, I was pretty sure that Dimitri hasn't exactly been celibate for the past five years.

But now the words were there; out in the open along with other truths that I had been holding on to for so long. The feeling of finally telling Dimitri after all these years was so completely blissful and reliving that it made me dizzy with happiness. And how could I not be happy?

Well for one thing, Dimitri was still staring at me like I had three heads and had yet to even utter a sound.

I could understand his reaction; I had a similar experience when I first found out about my pregnancy. I had actually even pondered Adrian using compulsion on me for sex; it was a pretty good thing I dismissed that thought as soon as it came, otherwise he would be hopping on one leg and lose the ability to _ever _ have children. But anyway, my point is that I came up with all of these ridiculous scenarios, completely ignoring the truth that was right in front of me, because of a life time of belief. It doesn't matter if someone confronts you with an argument that you can't possibly disagree with; if you've been taught your whole life to believe in something, you believe it.

And so I knew that right then, Dimitri wasn't having a problem with me not telling him about the kids, or not asking him for help, or even me letting the twins go for five years without them even knowing their father's name. He was merely asking himself "_how_?"

I waited patently for Dimitri to absorb everything, something was telling me that right now he just needed to be alone; to think this whole thing through without the pressure of me sitting right next to him, waiting for an answer. I wanted to give Dimitri the choice that I never got to make, and the time to make it. Would it break my heart to see Dimitri walk away from me again, with the knowledge that he was not only leaving me, but his daughters as well?" It would destroy me, but I wasn't forcing him into anything.

If Dimitri left, it was common knowledge to me that he would take my heart with him.

_But not my daughters. Never my little girls. _

**Hey guys! Sorry for taking my sweet ol' time with writing this chapter. When ever I'm on fanficion, I'm tempted to read everyone else's stories and before I know it, I wasted all my time reading instead of writing :P I blame this website for the pile of overdue library books sitting on my desk right now. **

**Little side note, I know the last line of this chapter sort of sounds like Rose thinks that if Dimitri leaves, he will take the girls with him. But of course our Dimitri would never do such a thing! It's just sort of saying that even if Rose loses him, she will always have her daughters with her. Just thought I'd clarify that so there was no misunderstandings :D **

**Thanks for the reviews! **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	9. Chapter 8

RPOV

I walked into the house to find Sophie and Claire playing with Barbie's. I didn't really understand the fun of it, when I was a kid I had always been the one outside playing tag with the boys; getting my hands dirty and constantly being reprimanded for having grass stains on my knees. I wouldn't have been caught dead playing with dolls. Sophie seemed to have the same thoughts, but she had a lot of patients with her sister who could dress and undress those little plastic perfectionists for hours.

At the moment, there was a pretty heated discussion going on about who got to have the Ken doll as the husband.

I wanted to intervene and tell them that there were two Ken dolls up for grabs, but the last time I did that, I got a very long and never ending lecture from Sophie about how the other one wasn't as good because he only had a shirt and shoes but no pants. It was pretty refreshing to know that despite the movies Adrian had my girls watching, they still like their "men" fully clothed.

I sat down on the couch and watched them play together.

At the moment, Barbie, who was sporting a flowered dress and a baby belly (I didn't get what the big deal was for this one, but I guess clip on pregnant bellies was like the "big thing" in Barbie fashion right now) and she was dancing with Ken, something that consisted of the two dolls squished together, arms spread out while they rocked back and forth inside the kitchen of the Barbie Dream House.

Hmmm.

The creaking sound of a door opening and then closing made my heart pick up the pace as I tuned around to meet the still troubled eyes of Dimitri. Without a word he sat down next to me on the couch and watched the twins play with their dolls. The baby belly had been ditched (if only it was that quick in real life) and a blond little Barbie baby with a pink headband took its place.

I looked at Dimitri's face, watching it lift in a half smile, his eyes where guarded, as if he thought that this was just wishful thinking on his part; just some big joke.

Trying to be reassuring I reached out and lightly touched his hand. Not wanting to overstep my boundaries, I moved to take my hand away as soon as possible, letting it slide back across the couch until it was resting by my side. Normally, I didn't behave this hesitant; if the situation had been a little less delicate I would have grabbed hold of his fingers and squeezed the life out of them until he finally gave up and agreed to talk to me. But this wasn't a normal situation; this was Dimitri. And so I would treat everything with the utmost care.

Ugly feelings were creeping up inside as more and more minutes past without Dimitri so much as looking at me. Remember my earlier promise about not pressuring him? Yeah, that just went to crap.

I didn't mean to be impatient with him, but this wasn't just about me and him any more; this was about Sophie and Claire. They wouldn't be this young and innocent forever. What was I supposed to do when they asked about their father? Would I be able to lie to them and say it was just some fling with a Moroi? Could I even do that to myself?

Every parent wants their child to go the extra mile and be better then they were; they want their kids to look up at them and see all of the good things they sacrificed so they could have a good happy life. So, how was I supposed to look into their eyes and tell them that there father was just some useless distraction; an experience that wasn't even worth remembering.

The answer was fairly simple; I couldn't.

I couldn't make myself look that low, I couldn't make Sophie and Claire feel unwanted, and I couldn't pass Dimitri off as some guy who was in and out of my life in the blink of an eye.

I felt a sudden warmth and tingle coming from my hand and looked down to see Dimitri lightly brushing my fingers with his own. I looked up into his eyes and knew that he would see the insecure, disbelieving look that I could feel taking root on my face; a look that seemed to be coming quite permanent lately. He offered a hesitant smile before completely enveloping my hand in his own. He didn't have to say anything for me to know what he was thinking.

He believed me.

I knew he wasn't making any promises or declaring his undying love for me; he was just telling me that he understood; that he was there for me and the twins.

I sent him a message right back, _that's all I need. _

For now.

**Hey guys :D **

**Sorry that this took forever and a day to post…I just couldn't figure out where to go with this, which is also why this chapter is so short :P I am trying to think of things to happen later in the story because right now it's pretty plot-less….if you have any suggestions don't hesitate to send me a message, I love getting feedback. :D **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	10. Chapter 9

DPOV

Watching the girls play pushed me into one of those moments where everything becomes clear and you can't even fathom why you were so unsure in the first place. Looking at them now, it was obvious that they were mine; we had the same eyes and some of the same mannerisms. I didn't even stop to think about how they looked oddly similar to Vikortia when she was that age. It was like all of these mixed up, jumbled pieces came together and made everything whole again. There was only one small problem.

I was still Tasha's guardian, and as much as I wanted to resign and be with Rose, Sophie and Claire, I knew that things weren't that easy; I was faced with the exact problem I had five years ago, except now there was more at stake.

I couldn't leave my charge because I had sworn that I would protect her, but I couldn't leave my family because not only did it go against everything I believe in, but I didn't think that I could physically do it.

I lost Rose once, but now that I knew how great a life with her could be, I wasn't sure I could go back to that lonely, meaningless world I had with Tasha. The thought of it made a sharp pain shoot through my chest. Sitting on my bed inside one of the many guest rooms; I put my head in my hands and let all of the conflicting emotions overwhelm me.

RPOV

A knock at the door made me walk away from my place at the table and meet the angry eyes of Lissa.

Her jade eyes were darker, looking like waves tossing furiously during a storm. I had gotten really good at blocking her emotions, but I was pretty surprised my meager skills could keep this kind of rage at bay; she was fuming.

"Liss? Whats wrong?"

"Whats wrong? Rose, you have been getting all up close and personal with your ex-lover for two whole days and not once, NOT EVEN ONCE did you even think to call me and give me an update?"

"Whoa, Liss. I've barely even figured everything out yet…I couldn't exactly call you with details I didn't even have."

"Have you kissed him yet?"

"Wha…what?"

"Have. You. Kissed. Dimitri? It's a simple question."

"Well, yeah but—"

She gave me a smug look and walked past me into the house, I could see Christian and Andre walking up the steps; Christian was giving me a smug smile that put Lissa's to shame.

"Hey, Sparkey. Something tells me you had something to do with this." He let out a laugh and moved past me into the house without a word.

_Oh yeah, just come on in like ya own the place. _

I followed all of them into the house and found everyone sitting on the couches in the living room. Andre had turned on the TV as soon as he walked into the house, a habit I was sure he got from his father, and now all of the kids were sucked into an episode of Spongebob. Well, all the kids and Christian, he looked pretty into it as well.

I let out a short laugh at the scene and went to sit next to Dimitri, after thinking about it I decided that sitting next to Liss was probably the best idea. I wasn't sure if Dimitri and I were "Okay" at the moment, and I didn't want anymore anger from Lissa.

"So did you guys hear?" Christian blurted out with out preamble.

"Hear what?" Tasha asked, really the only one who was paying attention to Christian.

"They lowered the age law for Dhampirs, they have to graduate at the age of sixteen now," He looked at me warily, most likely expecting the oncoming explosion.

"WHAT! They can't do that, its suicide!"

"I know," Lissa said in a low voice, sounding just as upset as I was. "I was at the meeting when they decided. I voted against it, of course. But with the rise in Moroi deaths everyone's getting scared. There just aren't enough guardians for everyone anymore."

I was surprised that Dimitri spoke next, sounding thoroughly pissed. "But don't they relies if they stick untrained novices out on the frontline they are risking more deaths on both sides? A dead guardian can't very well protect his Moroi." He was completely right. And if the guardian was dead, the Moroi would either be dead as well, only lowering their dwindling numbers, or they would become a Strigoi, making their numbers even larger.

It was a horrible chance, and I didn't know what could have possibly influenced the council to decide in its favor. I was also pretty pissed at Adrian, who was the queen's nephew and hadn't thought to tell me about this new law. I would deal with him later; he was due for a chewing out.

But right now, I had to deal with something bigger.

"Guys, were going to court."

**So once again I made you guys wait and then gave you a really short, really pointless chapter. I really hate doing this, but I've been having some trouble with my chapters lately. I'm writing my own (non-fanfic) story, and I didn't even realize until today that's its been a whole week since my last update. **

**I can't even tell you how many times I re-wrote this until I had something that was remotely worth putting up here, and again, I apologize for the excessive crappiness :P I will try to get some more exciting things going on here :P **

**Thanks again for all the reviews :D I look forward to them everyday. **

**xoxo **

**-Lydia **

**P.S- I just realized that I had Dimitri and Tasha staying at Rose and Adrian's house, when Tasha is Christian's aunt, sorry if this little tidbit had anyone confused. I know it doesn't make any sense. **


	11. Chapter 10

**Thanks for all of the reviews guys! Your awesome :D **

**I just wanted to forewarn you that I suck at dialogue, so just be warned that it is pretty rough around the edges. I would also just like to say that I realize I haven't been putting forth a lot of effort into my writing lately, like I said, I'm currently working on my own story so I feel like I sort of rush to get this done. **

**I promise to change that, although it might take me a little bit longer to update (if that's even possible :P ) **

**Well, enough negativity…**

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **

RPOV

Because we lived so close to court, we were all stuffing ourselves in the least amount of vehicles we could all fit in. Lucky me, got stuck with three kids; Sophie, Claire, and Adrian. Sophie was singing rather loudly along to a song she liked on the radio, and Claire was kicking her feet against the seat making a loud _thwack_ sound through the car at regular intervals. And Adrian? Adrian was singing along just as loudly to whatever horrible song was blasting through the car.

It was a good thing my hands were busy on the steering wheel because otherwise, I may have strangled someone.

But who knows? I may turn out to be a wicked multi-tasker.

When we finally made it to court, I was radiating determination. In my deepest fantasy, I would break into the queen's chamber, dressed in all black like a ninja and slam the queen's royal ass against the wall until she finally agreed to leave the graduation age as it was. And since this is my fantasy, maybe I would even demand a lil' something for myself; like a free pedicure supplied by the all-too yummy Ambrose?

Don't get me wrong, I loved Dimitri and I liked Ambrose too much as a friend to ever even think about having "that kind" of relationship with him. But I would have to be blind not to see how good looking Ambrose was.

I got out of the car, slamming my door hard enough to break it off the hinges. Dimitri jumped out of the driver's seat (he still had that urge to always be the one behind the wheel) and walked over to me, looking thoroughly concerned. He was probably thinking I was having a moment like the one I had before we slept together in the cabin all those years ago; and I have had a few of those over the years.

Trying to ease his worry I gave him a small half smile.

"Rose, what exactly do you plan on doing here? Besides getting arrested for treason, I mean." He laughed, but I was pretty sure he was only half joking.

"Look, I know I dragged all of you guys into this thing without an explanation, but you have to trust me. I wouldn't do anything that would put myself in jeopardy."

Everyone was out of the car now and looking at me like they didn't know whether to believe me or not.

"Serously, guys. Some trust, please?"

"Rose," Lissa began "I know you feel like you have to do this, but…you haven't exactly been high up in the guardian world. You showed a lot of promise before, but nobody's heard of you for a while. I just…don't get offended, but no one aside us knows that about Dimitri. To everyone else here, you're…disgraced, Rose."

I know she said not to be offended, but I couldn't help wincing at those words. She was right. I hadn't thought this plan through. I was on one of my "Old Rose" highs; it made sense that having Dimitri back would bring out the old, less responsible me. Now I had just hauled all of my friends and family off to court without so much as an explanation, and I had no clue what in the hell I was going to do. I was no longer the Rose who killed two strigoi before she graduated, and I certainly wasn't the Rose who graduated at the top of her class. I was the Rose that everybody thought hooked up with Adrian and left everything to go raise them. Even worse was the fact that everyone harbored a new level of disgust towards me because I was a lowly "Bloodwhore" who was married to the queen's nephew.

My life is too messed up for words.

Taking a deep breath I turned towards Lissa "I know that this isn't going to be easy, in fact, I know this is going to be pretty much impossible. But I won't ever be able to live with myself if I didn't do _something_. All of those kids, the kids who are going to be going out and killing Strigoi without enough experience….they have parents Liss. I can't even imagine what it will be like for me when my daughters are stuck out there fighting Strigoi without experience.

I know first hand how hard it is, what it feels like to look at your hands and see blood on them. I won't have Sophie **(A/N- Claire wont be able to be a guardian because she is deaf, just thought I'd clarify) **forgo having at least some fun all because of some screwed up law. I won't have her risk herself like that; and everyone else deserves the same."

I was pretty damn proud of my little speech, and despite my previous immature actions I was pretty sure Dimitri was proud of me too.

0

0

0

0

As much as I wanted that ninja fantasy to come true, I had to walk into the building like the normal Average Joe I was, and request an appointment with the queen. She hadn't seen Rose Hathaway for a while and I was going to refresh her memory.

I walked in and saw Tatiana herself sitting there with one cruel twisted smile on that face of hers; I didn't even bother with bowing, she was one mean lady but I was determined to out-bitch her.

"Ah, Rose Hathaway. Your as disrespectful as ever, I see."

"No, not disrespectful. Just really pissed off."

"And why, prey tell, would that be?"

"This stupid new law you have going on. Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush. I have two perspectives for this; guardians and a mothers, and both are screaming at me to bitch slap you right now."

Her eyes grew colder, if that was even possible. "Obviously, you have forgotten your place, you may have graduated but you left your position to raise your kids. That, my dear, puts you rather low on the food chain."

If I was mad before, now I was down right furious.

"You don't even understand the emotional burden this life puts on us, I have killed before, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't look at myself in the mirror and wonder how I went on after seeing all that death. You are going to put untrained kids out there to protect you? That's just sick; it's not suicide, its murder. And so maybe you can sit back and feel good about yourself because you may not be the one doing the actual killing, but I can't! And I won't wait around, hearing everyday of the deaths knowing that it could be my girls next!" I was panting now, and I could feel the heat on my face and the moister that was threatening to spill over onto cheeks.

Tatiana was looking at me peculiarly, she pursed her lips, "If you really want to speak to me, then you can come at a time when you have some control over yourself. I don't know who you think you are, Ms. Hathaway, but I won't put up with your insults. I suggest you leave before you do something that could land you in prison."

I turned around to go, and then just for the hell of making her squirm I said, "Goodbye, Your Highness. Oh, and its Mrs. Ivashkov now, in case you've forgotten."

It killed me to say it, I hadn't even changed my name, but I knew that there was nothing more repulsive to Tatiana then my marriage to he favorite nephew.

"Trust me, Rose. I haven't forgotten, I haven't forgotten anything."


	12. Chapter 11

RPOV

The episode with the queen was forgotten when bath time rolled around; Sophie and Claire were both seated in the huge Jacuzzi tub that came with our hotel suite. We had a tub like this at home, but the girls rarely used it. It was a pain in the ass to clean up and we usually ran out of hot water before the thing was even full. Thankfully, we didn't have to worry about these things while on "vacation".

I filled the tub up with warm water and even poured some nice, freesia scented soap under the faucet, making the girls shriek in excitement when they saw the huge tub filled to the brim with bubbles. Giving the girls their bath was one of my favorite things to do; when I was younger I had taken showers from an early age and didn't even remember anyone making bath time fun. It was just a boring routine that consisted of some random lady lathering up my hair and body and then telling me to lean back so she could get the suds off me.

With the girls, I tried to make this time as fun as possible; for all three of us. Sophie and Claire had been splashing around enough now that most of the bubbles had cleared away, leaving cloudy little pools that showed the occasional little flash of soft, pink skin. The girls were wet and slippery and giggly, rolling around the tub and crossing their legs to make themselves look like mermaids.

It was the funniest thing to see how the smallest detail could hold their wonderful minds so entranced. Claire, for example, couldn't get over the fact that when she swirled her hair under the water, it looked to be dry and flowing. She was constantly rolling onto her stomach to dip the ends of her long hair in the water.

"Mommy, look! I'm Santa Claus!" Sophie yelled, when I looked up at her face she had all of the bubbles piled over her chin and upper lip, she even added a good "Ho, Ho, Ho" in a deep voice for good measure.

Me and Claire both laughed and followed suit. It was common knowledge that when I walked out of the bath room, I would look like I had jumped in with my clothes on.

I got some shampoo in my hands and started massaging it into their scalps, and then pilling their hair on top of their heads to make them look like Alfalfa. Of course this only caused more giggling and splashing on our part.

Claire clapped her hands to get our attention; _can you wash our hair like they do to you at the haircutters? _

I nodded yes and detached the spray nozzle, but when I pulled the trigger the damn thing went flying all over the place, flinging around with the pressure of the water. I started screaming over the girls fits of laughter and tried to hold the thing in place; only succeeding in getting hit in the head. We were all laughing now, trying to hold down the slippery tube, not even thinking about the water damage we probably just caused.

I finally caught it, yelling a victorious "Ha!" before slipping on the water pooled around my feet and falling flat on my ass.

My face must have looked pretty shocked because the girls' quieted down and looked at me with blank expressions.

And then it began.

We were laughing harder then ever now, rolling all over the place trying to catch our breaths. I was soaked from head to toe, my long hair hanging wild and stringy around my face.

I heard a throat clear and I turned around to see Dimitri leaning against the door way, looking sinfully delicious, I might add. He had an amused smirk on his face and raised his eye brow as he looked at the girls, who were still laughing uncontrollably.

Sophie was taking deep breaths, "Mommy….f-fell!"

Dimitri looked over to me now, this time raising both his eye brows as he took me in. He had an odd expression on his face as he looked at me…..oh, wait not me. My boobs.

I blushed and looked down to find my shirt completely wet, my breasts straining against the fabric.

Crossing my arms over my chest I blushed deeper, if that was even possible, I looked up at him again, trying to meet his eyes, something that proved to be difficult since they were still trained on my chest, ogling shamelessly.

"See something you like, Comrade?" came out of my mouth without a second thought, I only realized after I said it that it was the same thing I said when Dimitri had found me in the lounge with Jesse. It seemed to snap Dimitri out of whatever boob-induced trance he was in because he cleared his throat again and tried to avert his eyes, looking everywhere but at me. It took everything in me not to snicker at his obvious discomfort; it was pretty funny to see Dimitri squirm.

Finally his eyes settled on Sophie and Claire, who were slippery, wet, rolling balls of laughter in the tub. They still had the soap piled on their heads and their soap beards on their chins, and even stoic Dimitri couldn't help laughing at the hilarity of the situation.

"Since when do you two have beards?" he asked the twins teasingly. Sophie started giggling before she realized that Claire was left out of the joke, turning to her sister she repeated what Dimitri said and they both resumed laughing.

Sophie looked at me and then glanced at Dimitri before making a face, "Hey, come here." She said.

I could tell she was trying to be sneaky by calling Dimitri over to her, but her face was scrunched up in such a way it was obvious she was trying her hardest not to smile.

Dimitri walked over with pretend caution as he knelt down in front of the tub; with a speed that even I wasn't anticipating, Sophie's had came up from the tub and covered Dimitri's chin in the bubbles.

Now _I _ was fighting a smile.

Seeing Dimitri's face covered in white foam was too much for the girls to handle, a whole new fit of belly laughter started and something told me that it was going to be especially hard to get them settled down and in bed tonight.

Where the girls found hilarity in Dimitri's situation, I was fighting of the moister that had suddenly pooled in my eyes. Seeing Dimitri interact with his daughters was one of the sweetest things I had ever seen; during high school, I had seen him as a person who, without a doubt, was meant to be a guardian. But now, looking at how sweet and caring he was toward the girls, I knew that he was meant to be a father; and I felt a surge of warmth and utter happiness flow through my veins with the knowledge that I could give him that.

**So, I've decided that as much as I would like this story to have some sort of plot, and action, and all that other good stuff that makes a story a good one; it's a little beyond me with this one. **

**As I've said before, I'm writing my own story right now and I just started school again….so I don't have as much time to put into this story as I would like. I just thought I'd warn you, that the rest of this story will most likely be a bunch of fluff with Rose and Dimitri, and quite possibly a few surprises. :D **

**I know I say this in every AN, but thanks for the reviews guys! They really do mean so much to me :D **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	13. Chapter 12

RPOV

"Rose, can we talk?" Normally, those words coming from Dimitri would put me in a panic, but the way he said it, and the way his lips curved up into a sweet half smile, I knew that this wasn't going to be anything to terrible. Well, at least I hoped.

I stepped out of the hotel room behind Dimitri, I had been in that room for an entire hour and a half now trying to get two crazy little girls to go to sleep. I had made the room completely dark with the intention of getting them asleep within a half hour at most; I should have seen what was coming. Every five minutes one of them would remember the incident in the bath room, sometimes it started out as a small giggle that, when copied by the other twin, turned into all out belly laughter. Or, one of them would randomly burst out laughter uncontrollably.

It didn't help that the sound of their hysterics alone was enough to make me and Dimitri laugh as well. I sat there holding my breath willing the load guffaws I was holding back not to slip out of my mouth.

Now, out in the hallway, the seriousness was back, making me feel a little more grown up.

"I don't know what to do" Dimitri blurted out suddenly. His face looked completely torn and innocent, so much unlike the strong guardian that I had known before. I was suddenly learning about many sides of Dimitri that I hadn't known even existed before now.

"You don't know what to do about what?"

"You. Sophie and Claire. It's just…hard. I want so badly to be apart of this family, but they don't even know who I am, I don't know who they are. Rose, it's like I don't even know who you are.

I know the guardian you, I know the friend you, and I know the lover you. But this whole mom thing is different. I want to be with you, but I don't know how to just move in on the middle of something."

Obviously this was understandable, just a few minutes ago I was thinking about all the different sides of Dimitri that had been brought forward to my attention in just a few days; the idea of having a family that he never knew about had to be terrifying, and once again I found myself regretting my decision of keeping him from this.

We tell ourselves that lying will keep the people we love from hurting; but really we lie to save ourselves the pain from telling the truth, and in the end everyone gets hurt and your left in a world of lies and deceit thinking how easy everything would have been if you had just manned-up and got everything out in the open for people to see.

If someone really loves you, then they will take you for who you are; they won't try to smother the bad things in you and make you perfect. They'll simply look past them and take you; flaws and all.

I loved Dimitri, despite everything. And every single part of my being was now wondering if he could do the same, if he could deal with not only me, but all the pain and drama and craziness that came with me.

"Dimitri, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. But it's absolutely ridiculous for you to think that you won't be welcome in your own family. I love you and the girls love you; so what do you have to be afraid of?"

Despite the fact that Dimitri was one of the smartest people I knew, he never could seem to grasp things like this. He was always trying to do the right thing, but some times you just gotta' say "screw it!" and move the hell on.

He was starring at me like I had three heads, "Really, Comrade. Just…Just stay, okay?"

I don't know what he was seeing when he looked at me, but it must have been enough to convince him because with a small smile he told me the one simple word that I had been waiting to hear for so long now, "Yes."

*0*0*

Luckily, on vacations I never had to make breakfast. So after my good long talk with Dimitri and a nights rest, I was sitting on an unmade hotel bed with Sophie and Claire eating, you guessed it, pancakes.

The talk last night had left me feeling on top of the world, and every so often I swore I could still feel Dimitri's kiss on my lips as I spooned those fluffy pieces of dough into my mouth. The fact that Dimitri was staying was so surreal that I couldn't properly wrap my head around it, of course it wasn't so simple; the girls still didn't know that Dimitri was their father, and as much as it pained me to have doubts, I wasn't going to tell them until I was sure I could trust Dimitri not to change his mind, it wouldn't be the first time after all. And technically, I was still married to Adrian; something that was definitely problematic. But in the end, me and Dimitri had been to hell and back together, and although it wouldn't be easy my any means, I had no doubt in my mind that we could work through this together. So long as he didn't decide to run off with any forty year old karate teachers anymore. That could be a deal breaker.

After washing the girl's faces, I promised them that they could take a swim in the hotels pool. It was a monstrous thing, that pool, stretching along an impossibly big room that ended with three different sized diving boards and a water slide.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I planned on enjoying this luxury as much as Sophie and Claire would be. But as much as I wanted to be carefree and have some fun with my girls, I was a mother first, and a super sexy not-so-single chick in a bikini second. So with the girls armed with swimmies, tubes, snorkels, and those goofy little vests that floated, we made our way to the pool, me taking pictures the entire time with the cruel intention of scaring off future boyfriends with them.

Sophie, of course, jumped in first and was thoroughly pissed when all of her flotation devices prevented her from going under water. Eventually I conceded and took off some layers, only to have two sobbing girls on my shoulders crying over the fact that they had gone under water. It was time for a swimming lesson.

I had never intended for this day to turn out so boring, but after the girls sobs finally quieted I realized that without a pool of our own it would be hard for them to finally learn how to swim. So, we ditched the floaties and I alternated between girls, trying to get them to go under water and kick their feet.

"Okay, Soph. Can you go under water?" she gave me a look that plainly said 'are you crazy?' and then shook her head no. "Come on, Sophie. Would I really make you do something that I thought could hurt you? I'll be right here the entire time. I won't even let go of your arms."

Again, she shook her head.

"Okay, how bout this? Can you get your nose wet?" Sophie pursed her lips in a way that had me thinking she was probably thinking thoughts way too devious for someone her age, and then she stuck her and in the water and touched her nose, giving me a big victorious and slightly taunting, smile.

Smartass.

Despite the fact that she was deliberately trying to make me angry, the act was so Rose like that it was funny. Trying to be stern with her, I held in my smile.

"Come on; if you keep doing things like this you'll never learn how to swim."

"I don't wanna learn how to swim, I want to put my swimmies on and go on the water slide."

"You said you hated the swimmies."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did! Just five minutes ago when—ugh, never mind."

I swam Sophie back to the ledge and grabbed Claire, when I got to the point where I had to swim she hung on tightly to my neck and started crying. I wanted to speak to her and tell her it was okay, but she wouldn't be able to hear what I was saying and I couldn't exactly sign the words with my hands busy trying to extract her claws from my neck.

Swimming over to the edge again, I put Claire down and took a deep breath. So this was slightly disastrous.

"Told you we needed the swimmies" Sophie said, giving me a look.

*0*0*

After drying off and packing up our stuff we exited the pool room and were met with a blast of icy air that was a far cry from the steamy, humid pool. We were walking back to our room, the girls running ahead, when we ran into Dimitri. The girls pulled up short and ran to give their new favorite person hugs; he was so tall they only came up to his thighs.

"Where did you guys come from?" He asked, seeing all of our wet hair.

"The pool! They have sooo much stuff there, it was really fun but mommy said we had to leave." Sophie through me a look that said I was her least favorite person in the world right now.

"Well maybe I can take you guys back later today." Dimitri said, giving me a hopeful look. Normally it would be incredibly sweet but right now I was tired and aggravated and hatching a plan.

"Sure," I said, giving him a devious half smile. "Maybe you can teach them how to swim."


	14. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! Sorry that I am taking soo long in between updates! I know I'm horrible with this! **

**I would like to run some things by all of you though, so if you could take your time to PM me about these ideas I would be really grateful :D **

**So, first off, am I the only one who thinks that Rose and Eric Northman from True Blood would make a good couple? Don't get me wrong, I am 100 % Rose and Dimitri…but their attitudes are just so similar and I can't get the pairing out of my head. I would write the story myself if I didn't want to read it so bad :P **

**I also have an idea for a new fanfic (although I wont start it until this one is close to being finished, I already have one story on hiatus) I've said before that I'm writing a story of my own, and it's about werewolves. So I've had the wolf thing in my head for a while now….Rose Hathaway, badass incarnate who can turn into a wolf? Overrated? Extremely…but so freaking cool! Let me know what you think! **

**Thanks for all of the reviews! Between you and me, they make me smile really big and dance around my house. No lie :D **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **

DPOV

I didn't quite understand the look that Rose gave me other then the fact that is was devious and that it would be wise of me to be cautious. Rose was one of those gifted few who didn't need a legitimate reason to be mad at someone, they got pissed off and the only thing you could do to protect yourself from their wrath was to run the other way. And if I didn't love her so much, I would have.

Rose was a difficult person to unravel; I learned that a long time ago. One look at her would leave any guy drooling, one conversation with her would leave you offended, and one fight with her would leave you in the hospital and her with a restraining order. It was just the way Rose worked; she put out that sarcastic, slightly bitchy side out on front and only showed her true self to those who took the time to get to know her. Let me tell you, it was completely worth it.

It was worth it because not only did I get Rose, but I also got two beautiful and sweet little girls, one of which would grow up to be just like her mother and I could tell from the way Claire was quite and reserved that she would most likely end up like me.

The idea of children was always so out-there for someone like me, I expected to go most of my life alone. In high school I had a few girl friends, none all too serious, but none of those three day relationships either. I liked to spend more time on my work, striving to get the best grades and training harder then anyone else, so I didn't have time for girl friends who wanted a man on their arm all of the time. In the end, Rose hadn't been my first…but she would be my last.

Some guys always wonder how a man can get married and only be with one woman for the rest of their life; when you really love someone, it's the easiest thing in the world. I would never consider myself a womanizer, but I am a man, and I would be lying if I said I never lusted after a woman because of her body instead of her personality, or that I didn't notice women's bodies. I still noticed them; they just didn't do anything for me. Rose was the perfect girl, to others she may seem arrogant, but to me it just seemed confident, when people looked down on her for being a little wild, I just saw her longing to have fun. Rose loved deeper and more pure then anyone I had ever met; she gave her whole self, body and soul to the people she loved. There was no holding back or being cautious. And so I intended to do the same for her, Sophie and Claire, because people like them deserved to be loved holey and unconditionally.

I was going to ask Rose to move in with me.

I didn't know how I was going to pull it off; Rose was by no means spoiled, I remember picking her and the princess up all those years ago and finding them in cheap, second-hand clothes. But it was a known fact that I couldn't give Rose and the girls the life that they had been living with Adrian. There was also the fact that Adrian was a constant presence in their lives; as much as I hated to admit it, and I _do _hate it, Adrian had been taking my place as the girls' father for years now. It would be upsetting for both parties if they were separated. So I still wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off, all I was sure of anymore was that I needed Rose and the twins just as much as I needed air or water. They were a necessity that I would die without.

And so I figured the best way to execute my plan was to do something as simple as just getting to know my daughters. I wanted to know their likes and dislikes, what their favorite colors were, what shows they watched on TV. I wanted to know things about my daughters that only a father and mother would know, like where they were most ticklish, how the skin in the crease of their elbows felt, what time they started to get that extra crazy kick before crashing. I wanted to know every little detail from their first word to the way their dark hair sat on the crown of their little heads.

The only time I had felt this overwhelming desire to just _know _someone, inside and out, was when I met Rose. I knew I was acting dreamy and silly, always thinking about them and wondering if they were thinking about me. People probably thought I was a man in love; I am.

OoOoOoO

It was decided that we would head home later that day; Rose was apologetic and embarrassed for rushing everybody to court with no reason other then the fact that she had a temper, and the girls were crying because they wanted to go swimming with me like I promised. I always had looked down on those parents who gave in to their child's every whim just because they flashed those begging eyes and stuck out their bottom lip; I had been greatly underestimating the power of the puppy dog face. It was nearly impossible to say no to Sophie and Claire when they gave that look, the only thing that kept me from picking up the girls and running head long into the pool room was that I wanted to show Rose I could be a good parent, and good parents showed tough love.

It wasn't until we were all loaded up into cars again that I realized how much I was kidding myself with the whole "tough love" thing. Hell, I didn't even ask Rose to even consider moving in with me and I was already contemplating how much one of those blowup pools would cost.

I couldn't wait to get out of the car I was sharing with Tasha, Lissa, Christian and Andre just so I could see Rose and the girls again…was I being petty for not liking the fact that Adrian was in the car playing daddy to my kids? I'm pretty sure it wasn't justified since I was the one that left in the first place, but I couldn't help the feeling of jealousy and helplessness that accompanied the image of Adrian playing hide-and-seek with the girls, drying off their shriveled bodies after a bath, holding them as they wailed, their tiny fists curled and gummy mouths screaming. I wanted it. I wanted something that was impossible for me to ever have because no matter how much you want to _you can't change the past. _I would never be able to hold my baby daughters because they were already at the age of five. And if just a few more short years they would be crushing on boys and asking to wear makeup; add a few more on to that and they would be driving and then graduating and having serious relationships.

As a kid, I always hated the way adults rambled on about "How fast they grow up!" and "Before you know it they'll be driving". It always seemed like I couldn't grow up fast enough. Now, being on the other end, I could finally appreciate my mother balling on the first day of school and calling me almost every hour when, as an adult, I moved here to the US. Time really does fly by; and I wanted to kick myself for not enjoying the time when it was handed to me.

It didn't matter if Rose didn't want to move in with me, or even if she lived with Adrian for the rest of her life. Rose loved me; I knew it with everything I was, and as long as I didn't miss any more time with Sophie and Claire, I would be happy. Nothing; not even the strongest force in the world could tear me away from them now. I would be right there next to them, making sure nothing ever touched them.

Especially boys.


	15. Chapter 14

RPOV

I was tempted to fall to my knees and kiss the ground by the time we finally got back home. The entire ride was filled with crying over not being able to swim and Sophie screaming "You're a liar!" It would have had more affect on me if she didn't give me this speech several times a week as it was.

Claire was kicking the back of my seat throughout the ride and it felt like my forehead had a heartbeat; Adrian had made use of the slushy machine at the gas station we hit before leaving, and the numerous blue-raspberry drinks paired with his bladder (which must have been the size of a pea) had him clutching his seat and begging me to stop so he could relive himself almost every half-hour. I swear, he was worse then the kids.

I must have been a sight walking into the house with my teeth clenched and shoulders hunched, mumbling curses at the sky. But at that point, I really didn't care. As a mother, there was no greater joy then looking at my children's smiles and hearing their laughter, but there were always those moments where you just loose it and you feel like screaming. God may have blessed me with children, but I sure got screwed over when it came to the patience to deal with them.

Just as I was feeling like I was finally beginning to unwind Claire walked into the house and spilt her slushy (that she, unlike some people, was smart enough to drink slowly) on the floor, making a trail of red and ice slip through the cracks of my hard wood floors and my sanity.

Taking in a big breath, ready to scream, I took one look at her guilty face and big eyes that were filling with tears and let it out in one big gust of breath.

"It's okay Claire, Mommy can clean it up." I offered a strained smile just as Adrian walked in and yelled "Whoa! What happened to the floor?"

Cursing his ignorance as Claire's eyes filled some more I whipped slushy number seven out of his hand and dumped its blue contents on the floor, spraying some on the walls for good measure.

"Gravity happened, Adrian. And unless you want to see what it can do to your ass then I suggest you move out of the way." My patience was slowly wearing thin as I turned my eyes heavenward and walked on, leaving the mess of red and blue behind me.

No, I definitely did not have patience, but I did have a mop for that floor, and someone named Adrian who knew how to use it.

OoOoOoOoO

Later that night I was sitting on the living room couch nursing a must needed glass of wine. The day had only gotten worse after arriving at home, and I was physically and mentally exhausted. I didn't drink very often, the only reason we even had alcohol in the house was because Adrian was still self medicating.

The house was completely dark, everyone having gone to sleep hours ago, dragging their feet because of the tiring day. Part of me wanted nothing more then to flop head first onto my bed and just sleep, but the other part was wide awake and in need of a good laugh. The stress I was feeling was pretty unnecessary, anyone with kids knows that they scream, make messes, and take up one hundred and ten percent of your day, but when ever I had days like this, where everything seemed to be go-go-go all day long, I always have a need to just let go.

Acting on that mind set, I went through the videos that were guaranteed to make me smile; my home videos. I always found the best way to escape your family was by remembering why you stuck around in the first place.

Popping one in at random, I was greeted with the image from about two years ago on Halloween day. The girls and Andre were three at this time and they were all dressed up in the costumes that they had chosen months before, unable to wait. Sophie was dressed like a witch with her little black dress and orange and purple stockings. She had a small wicker broom that I bought as a decoration at our local Wal-Mart, and a trick-or-treat bag that looked like a cauldron. She was pretending to fly around on her broom, hoping to be scary for whoever was video tapping.

Claire was dressed in one of those tacky, sequin covered costumes with Velcro straps that was made to make her look like Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She even had a messy bright red wig. They looked so ridiculously adorable walking around in their costumes, in their heads becoming exactly who they were dressed up as.

I was so focused on the video playing before me that I didn't notice Dimitri until he was sitting right next to me, his long arm draped comfortingly over my shoulder, pulling me closer to him as we watched our daughters play.

We watched silently for a few minutes, listing to their squeals of laughter before Dimitri said suddenly, "I hate that I missed this."

"Halloween? Trust me; you're lucky you missed it. Its fun and everything when you're little, but as an adult you just go from house to house, check candy for poison and then try to get the kids to bed after a sugar rush." It was a very tiring holiday.

He chuckled, "Not just that, everything. I missed so many important moments with them." He was sad now; I could see it in his eyes as he watched the video. Suddenly, Andre appeared on screen, dressed in his fireman costume. He was dressed in a big black and yellow coat with a plastic fireman's hat and for some reason was carrying around a big stick. Walking around he began to beat the stick on his helmet. I snorted and Dimitri laughed quietly again, "He got Christians brain, that one." I said while laughing.

I abruptly got an idea as I jumped up and ran to the cabinet beneath the TV to get some more videos, "I was never real into that sappy stuff, but Lissa was always sure to document everything." I gave him a big smile as I dragged the bin over where he was sitting. "This way, you can see what you missed." He looked at me with a small smile, I knew this couldn't make up for the years he lost, but at least he wouldn't feel completely in the dark.

He dug his hand in the bin and randomly pulled out one that was labeled "Sophie on Mountain Dew" he held it up, "This one sounds interesting," I laughed recalling the time when Sophie had found and gulped a can at the mere age of two. I removed the Halloween tape and put the other in, sitting down next to Dimitri again.

The video showed a small Sophie, she had short feather light dark hair and dimpled knees and elbows. She was wearing the cutest pair of feety pajamas and was in the middle of what appeared to be rapid squat thrusts. After finishing those she ran screaming to the other side of the room, hopped up on the very couch we were sitting on now, held onto the side and jumped. It was the funniest thing to watch her little feet bound across the floor, a huge smile slowing her baby teeth, adorable little pearls with big spaces in between. She was breathing heavily and screeching and laughing, as was everyone else in the room who was watching.

I was showed in the corner, holding a little Claire who was watching her sister with a big goofy smile on her face and whoever was video taping was shaking the camera with the force of their laugher. It was such a happy moment, and I was so glad it was caught on tape. Sophie on Mountain Dew, it was the little things in life.

DPOV

Watching that video had me in such hysterics it was starting to hurt my sides. Maybe it was because I was tired, but I don't think anything had ever been this funny. Just the carefree face that she was making was enough to start the laugher all over again.

Rose got up to go to the bathroom and I went through the bin, trying to find another tape. I found one that was labeled 'Sophie and Claire's Birthday'. I could picture a cute little party and the girls cheeks puffed up as they blew out their candles. I popped it in and smiled, ready for their happy faces and was greeted instead by white walls and the sound of screaming. This was their first birthday, not as in 'The girls turning one' but as in 'the very first day the girls came into the world'. So this was child birth? On second thought, maybe I was glad I missed this.

I stared wide eyed as Rose screamed and scrunched her face. The person who was video taping moved and all of the sudden the camera was showing…..Holy. Shit.

I heard Lissa's voice over Rose, "Mia! What the hell are you doing? Get the camera out of there!" So Mia was video taping? Mia's voice came this time, "She going to want to remember this!"

"By the sounds she's making I'm pretty sure she'll want to forget!"

Dirty looking liquid began to flow out of Rose's… well, _parts _and I felt like I was going to be sick. Grabbing the remote, I quickly turned it off and popped in another video that was of the girls sledding down a big hill looking like pink snowmen in their heavily padded outfits.

When Rose came back I was watching her sit on a tube sled with both girls on her lap before being pushed down the hill. She smiled brightly at me and leaned in to kiss me. Our lips moving together in the dull flicker of captured memories.

**So another update in just a day!**

**I felt bad with all the time I was taking to post these chapters, and this idea would not get out of my head. I hope you all enjoy this :D **

**I should tell you, I cant take credit for the Mountain Dew bit, I have a little sister who did just that at the age of two and the video is the funniest thing to watch, I thought it would fit perfectly in this chapter :D **

**Thank you for the good reviews! I will try to be better about updating!**

**xoxo**

**-Lydia**


	16. Chapter 15

RPOV

A timid knock on my bedroom made me look up from the magazine I was l searching through and look at the clock, confirming that it was far to late in the night for me to be looking at purses, much less have someone banging away at my bedroom door at all hours of the night. I wanted badly to just ignore whoever was out there and get back to the magazine, but I knew I would feel horrible later if it turned out to be one of the girls having a bad dream. I couldn't very well leave my five year old daughter out in the dark hallway looking for her mommy.

Sighing, I hoisted myself off of the bed and walked to the door, my silk robe sliding against my skin with each step. I only had my bra and underwear underneath so I closed it up and tied it tightly across my middle as I opened the door and found none other then Adrian standing there in silk boxers.

Good thing I closed the robe.

"Adrian? What's wrong?" I asked worriedly, automatically assuming that nothing good could come from Adrian standing outside by bedroom door at one thirty in the morning wearing nothing but silk boxers. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that he was here for a friendly chat.

"I didn't want to come over here this late, but I couldn't get into your dreams. I figured you wouldn't mind if I popped in since you were still awake." He wasn't his usual sarcastic self; in fact he was speaking very low and sweet and fumbling his hands, looking nervous. The worry I felt didn't go away as I frowned and wordlessly opened my door wider so he could come in.

He took quick, jerky steps, nothing like the usual suave and sensual gait he usually had when entering a room. The poor man look scared out of his skin and it was really starting to drive me crazy that he wouldn't just quit stalling and start getting to the part where he bares the bad news. I sat down on my bed next to him and waited for him to speak, but it just wasn't coming. I must have sat there for three minutes in complete and utter silence ( a huge feat for me) before I finally lost it.

"Adrian, your killing me. Just spit it out already!" I was about ready to jump out of my seat with anticipation; at this point I wanted nothing more then to hear what he had to say, but I was scared shitless that he would actually say it. It was such a screwed up position to be in and yet it was totally inescapable.

"I met someone." He came out with suddenly, "I met someone, and she's really great, Rose." He was looking at me like he was waiting for me to flip the switch on his electric chair. All I could do was look at him with what I knew was a shocked expression on my face.

"Adrian! That's great! Who is she? What's she like? Oh, I bet she's pretty, is she pretty?" I was rambling with excitement now, hardly able to contain the shriek that was threatening to come out from deep inside my chest.

"Whoa, wait. Your—your not _mad?" _

"Adrian, why the hell would I be mad? This is great!" I couldn't believe that I was so worried, and I still had no idea why he would think so little of me. Adrian felt something for someone that was more then just lust; he felt true, deep affection. Maybe even love! The knowledge that he had found someone that made him as happy as Dimitri made me was so….just, relieving that it was hard for me to comprehend.

This whole time I had felt guilty over practically using Adrian, always feeling like I was holding him back. He was such a great guy; sweet, handsome and funny. He was every girls dream and I was always fretting over the fact that, because of me, women were afraid to have a relationship with him. Adrian disserved to find love; he had one of those hearts that was just made to be linked with someone else's. For a long time he thought it was mine, but by the look on his face that I was just now realizing, I could tell he was head over heels in a way that he had never been with me.

His cheeks were flushed and excited, and I had been so caught up with Dimitri that I didn't think about how much he had been laughing and smiling, getting texts that always caused him to smile. Most surprising of all was his lack of innuendos and those dirty glances that were so full of meaning. Through the years he had never ceased to stop trying to get into my pants, even when it got to the point that it was just pointless joking; a force of habit. And now here he was, sitting on my bed in practically nothing, confessing his love for some girl.

"Adrian," I spoke softer now, moving closer so I could snuggle my head into his naked shoulder, "How could I possibly be mad? You disserve to have happiness with someone. I'm sure she's really great and I know that the family would be more then happy to meet her. Why don't you invite her to dinner tomorrow?" I was getting more and more excited at the prospect of meeting Adrian's mystery girl face to face. This was a big deal for him and I didn't want it to be done half ass. This was Adrian's love life, and I had screwed it up enough over the years to know that this situation had to be handled delicately.

He smiled at me and pushed me further into his side, "That would be great, Rose. She knows about this whole…thing, but to be quite honest she didn't seem exactly thrilled about it." I knew he was being careful to make sure I wasn't offended by any of this, but how could I be? If this girl was feeling half of what Adrian was feeling for her then she had the right to be pissed that he was living with some chick, her two kids, and that they were technically married. It was very dysfunctional situation, but that was life I guess.

I knew I had to do something to make this easier for him; something that would lighten the burden that I had placed on his shoulders. It was time to take action and start doing something for someone else for once. I was sick of being a parasite who fed off of the guilt that others felt for me. I was Rose Hathaway; I lived through Strigoi attacks, death of loved ones, heartbreak, and yes, even childbirth. I could handle something as little as this on my own. It was time to take charge and start working hard for a better future for my girls.

Pulling myself from Adrian's embrace, I leaned back on the bed and grabbed the unnecessary, expensive catalog that was filled with luxuries I didn't need. Picking it up and walking determinedly to the trash can in the corner of my desk, I ripped it in half without a care, forgetting all of the stupid things I had circled with the petty and shallow hope that I could get them. Throwing that magazine away was a small, simple gesture that was completely ordinary. But it signified the ending of one life and the birth of another.

**Sorry this chapter was so short, but I've been getting the itch to write this for a while now and I really just wanted this chapter to be about Adrian. Everything is always so crazy with Rose and Dimitri that sometimes I forget about the other stories that need to be told. **

**I really appreciate all of the comments you guys have left me, I look forward to them with every post. I've said it a million times already, but THEY MAKE MY DAY! Nothing is better for me then to know you enjoy reading this, I'm constantly trying to make the butterflies in my stomach go away before posting, so I greatly appreciate the time you all put into your reviews. **

**On a side note; am I right about Last Sacrifice coming out next month? I really hope so because otherwise I'm in for some disappointment. I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but what are all of you hoping for in the last book? I will be happy as long as Dimitri and Rose get their happy ending :D **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	17. Chapter 16

RPOV  
Everything for dinner was perfect. We had the nice china and table cloth out on the table, the house was immaculate, and I had figured out a way to seat everybody in a fashion that would, hopefully, keep all conflict at bay. Adrian, of course, was going to be seated next to his mystery girl, the girls would be seated on the side next to Christian, Andre would be next to Tasha and Lissa, and me and Dimitri would be somewhat squished on the end of the table. The layout was meant to keep the kids under control as well as the adults. I didn't want this girl to think that Adrian and I were in any way together, and I figured that me being seated next to Dimitri would show her that my interest lied somewhere else.

The dining room was one of the biggest rooms in the house; Adrian being the Queen's nephew had a lot of people over for political business that I, or Adrian for that matter, had no interest in. The room was a burgundy color with dark accents everywhere. The table was huge, something that we only used for special occasions such as this. Honestly, we could have down sized and sat at the small table that was located in the kitchen, but I thought it might come off as too…homey. Again, I didn't want this girl to think that Adrian was some bread winner who went to work each day and came home to some domestic wife in an apron. I wanted to show her that, yes, our situation was messed up and confusing, but don't let it stop you from shacking up with my husband.

Yep, we were screwed.

All this party planning could really take a toll on a girl, and I wanted nothing more then to just sit back and relax for a while. But sometimes duty calls, and right now it was pretty much shouting in my ear to get my lazy ass in gear and start cooking. Or rather, not cooking, I was in charge of getting everybody presentable for dinner while the cook Adrian hired (telling me that he loved my cooking to bits but that he would rather his date got to at least eat desert before succumbing to food poisoning) made us dinner.

Usually the girls ate dinner with remnants from their lunch still smeared on their faces and their knees dirty and grass stained from playing outside. I decided to give them a bath before dinner so they would look human for our guest, and at the moment I was giving them a lecture of what was okay to do when it was just us eating, but wasn't when there was company.

"But mommy, _you_ always burp during dinner." Sophie looked at me accusingly.

"Yes, but this time we have people over, so let's keep the burping to a minimum please?" I looked at her with pleading eyes as I begged them to understand the simple things I was demanding. I had been sitting here for almost fifteen whole minutes trying to explain this to her, and she was just starting to understand it. I jumped up to walk away and check off something on my long list when she called me back.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, Sophie?"

"What's minimum?"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

When the door bell rang I was a bundle of nerves, I wanted so badly for this to work for them, I had never seen Adrian like this before and I wanted it to work out for him so much it hurt. I didn't love him like a wife loved her husband, but he was one of my best friends, and I was fiercely protective of those I loved.

Adrian all but ran to get the door and I waited in the living room, watching the girls play. They were dressed nicely, but not fancy by any means. We all had casual clothes on, but it was all a far cry from our everyday clothes that seemed too silly for something like this. But when Adrian and his girl walked in I couldn't help but feel silly that I tried so hard to make things nice for Adrian, he could get this girl all by himself. It was obvious in the way they were looking at each other.

She was tall, like most Moroi, but also had a sense to her that was fragile and loving the way that she was curvier then most of her kind, she looked very sweet and motherly almost. She had long blond hair that was almost golden and fell in waves down her back, a feature that I thought made her look like a mermaid, and eyes that were steely gray, something that would look cold and emotionless on any other person but her, who could pull it off with such warmth. She was wearing a simple blue dress that complimented her nicely, and after she gave Adrian a hug and kiss on the cheek she made her way over to me and shook my hand.

"Hi, I'm Molly." She introduced herself sweetly.

Molly? _Molly! _Oh my God if she got any freaking cuter I would have to squeeze her. Her name was Molly for craps sake; if that is not the cutest name in the world then I don't know what is! Holy hell I freaking loved her already. I was expecting some cold royal whose head was so far up her ass she couldn't see straight, but Molly looked sweet and loving, and I was thrilled beyond belief that she chose Adrian and vise-versa.

"It's so nice to meet you; Adrian has been talking non-stop about his mystery girl." I told her, smiling so wide my cheeks hurt.

She blushed at my comment and shyly looked for Adrian's hand, which he gladly and very enthusiastically offered.

By the end of the night we were all laughing at the table, mostly at Adrian's expense, much to his chagrin, and having a grand old time. Honestly, I didn't even want the night to end. I had my girls, Dimitri by my side holding my hand and giving me tender touches and fleet, loving smiles every so often. Adrian had Molly, who made him smile so much I thought his face would crack, and I think all of us were glad to have Molly as part of our little family now; the girl was so sweet she could give us cavities.

"Oh, and then there was this one time that Adrian tried to be nice and help me with the girls when they were sick. But every time one of them threw up, he started too and I was left cleaning up after all three of them!" The stories went on and on, ranging from sweet to embarrassing, and all of us laughing, even the girls and Andre who had no clue what the were even laughing at. Dimitri held my hand the whole time.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Rose, can I talk to you?" I looked up to see Molly in the doorway of the kitchen, playing with the hem of her dress as I washed dishes.

"Of course," I said with a smile, wondering what she wanted to talk to me about and why it was making her so nervous.

She came up next to me and grabbed a rag, drying what I had just washed. She did this with me for a few minutes before she finally spoke, "I just wanted to say thank you. Your family is great and I'm glad that I can be apart of it. You have no idea how nervous I was coming here, thinking that I wouldn't be accepted." She looked at me nervously.

"Molly, you have no idea how nervous I was," I told her with a chuckle, "I had this vision in my mind of some cold, royal who would look down on all of us. So thank you too, for being…well, you, I guess." I smiled at her, and she grinned back. It was nice having this common ground with her, especially since she would probably be sticking around for awhile; if not forever.

We finished the dishes in silence and I thanked her for helping before she went to leave. Just as she was about to pass through the door she turned back to me with a puzzled look on her face.

"Hey, Rose?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"How come before we sat down, Sophie gave me a lecture on not burping?"

Well that's kids for you.

**Hi guys!**

**I don't really think this is one of my best chapters, but I was really anxious to write it, so I hope you enjoyed it!**

**On a side note, I just started a knew story (don't worry, it wont affect the updating on this one in anyway) and it is a lot different from any VA fanfic that I've written, or that anybody has written for that matter. I warn you, its very OOC and I'm still not sure about it, but I would appreciate if you all checked it out and gave me some feedback, I'm not very confident I should continue and I would love some honest opinions to help me out. **

**I loved the feedback from the last chapter! I can't thank you guys enough!**

**xoxo**

**-Lydia **


	18. Chapter 17

DPOV

I couldn't believe that Adrian was serious about someone. Despite the fact that he had obviously been involved with someone else, somewhere deep in side me still felt that uneasiness toward him that was buried deep and that came out all because of a force of habit. But now, after meeting Molly, I had no doubt that she was perfect for him and him her. Molly was sweetness incarnate, and something told me that a man like Adrian needed someone who was dedicated and fragile enough to hold him down. The only reason most people were afraid of upsetting Rose was because if you did, you were caught between a rock and a hard place; her fist and the wall you were backed up against. I would never leave Rose because I loved her, there was no simpler explanation. But Adrian, being the play-boy he was, needed something—or someone, to keep his head where it should be. Molly was perfect for that.

She had that innocence about her that made you want to keep her happy, and I knew that Adrian would be the man for the job. In a way, they balanced each other out the same way that me and Rose did; Adrian was irresponsible, wild and a little hot-headed and Molly was calm, collected and rational. You could see at dinner how each person brought out the best of each other and that factored into how their relationship worked.

I was lying in bed reading a new western novel that I got before coming here, but with all the craziness hadn't been able to start reading; I was so deep into the twisting plot and enraptured by the skirmish that was taking place that I jumped when my cell phone rang; a high, shrill cry that was like beacon of modern life dragging me out of my rightful place in the old west. Looking at the ID I dropped all former resentment and answered quickly, before it stopped ringing.

"Hello?" I said, even though I knew exactly who it was.

"Dimka," my mother's voice sighed on the other line. The voices of my childhood varied from the deep and angry bass of my father to the high pitched giggle of having sisters. But it was my mother's soft monotone, spoke in the flowing language of my home country that I missed the most. Some would call me a Momma's Boy, I knew Rose sure would, but I was fine with that. In my case, it was a much better option then being a Daddy's Boy.

My mother continued, "We've missed you, when are you going to take a break and get over here to see your family?"

"I miss you all too, but you know it's hard for me to take time off."

She let out an exasperated sigh, "Dimitri, you work too hard. I think it's high time you took a break and came here to see your mother." She was trying to sound stern, but I could hear the evidence of a smile in her voice.

"I'm…sort of taking off right now actually." I trailed off, I wanted to be honest, but I knew this would bring on a round of questions. "I'm with Tasha, visiting some old friends."

"Old friends? This couldn't have anything to do with the reason Tasha tells me you've been moping around, can it?" Silence.

"Dimka, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Of course!"

"Do you love her?" I had no idea that my family knew about my recent depression over Rose, and now that I did I was extremely embarrassed. Being the only guardian in the family I took on the role of a protector. For so long now I had been proud to be a strong man in my family's eyes, but now I looked like a weak, love struck fool. A happy love struck fool, but a fool nonetheless.

I sighed, "Yes, I love her."

"Well then get your head in gear and bring her to meet your mother!"

I couldn't help but laugh, Mothers' were mothers'. I could tell her anything and she would still be adamant about seeing me. But now, as a father, I could see exactly what made her so desperate. A sudden flash of realization hit me, thinking about Sophie and Claire going of to a foreign country and risking their lives everyday was unbearable, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

"Mom, I have something to tell you."

"Anything, Dimitri. You know that."

And so I told her, the whole story, leaving nothing out (well except maybe the part about Rose's nipples in that hotel bathroom. I don't think she meant everything in that sense) and she listened quietly.

As I finished I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, the more people who knew about Sophie and Claire, the more real it got for me. I expected a long lecture on parenting, or maybe even a scolding for not being with my children, and of course more questions would be understandable.

I waited on the phone, listening for anything that would clue me into distress or anger, but instead I got.

"So I'm a grandma, huh?"

I really did love my mom.

**MUST READ! **

**So I know this chapter is short, I'm really sorry about that but for some reason I cant make myself write long lasting chapters. I apologize for this being a filler, but for a while I had no clue what to write, and then I started thinking about Olena and how much I liked her in Blood Promise. I couldn't very well leave one of my favorite characters out of here. Hopefully, a Mr. Mazur will be making an appearance…I don't know how yet, considering this story didn't follow the same plot as Shadow Kissed, but he was another favorite. **

**Also, because I know we are all looking forward to Last Sacrifice, I wanted to give you all some tidbits that may or may not be news to you. **

**Richelle has a Facebook page that she gives a lot of updates on…so if you need an easy accessible place to look for updates; it's the place to go. She also has teaser trailers that give quotes, albeit cryptic ones and she had released the last line of Last Sacrifice which is "I don't know, but I think it's going to be good." **

**She also has a slightly scary video of Daniel Marks touring her books shelf where he IN FRONT OF US reads a page of Last Sacrifice…I suggest you watch it, but be warned, it will scare you. **

**Richelle has posted that the excerpt for Last Sacrifice will be released on the 29****th****. **

**Hope this is helpful! **


	19. Chapter 18

RPOV

The hands on the clock were slowly creeping toward the one o'clock mark when I finally realized that sleep was a lost cause. I had been lying in my bed, tossing and turning since ten thirty and sleep still evaded me, leaving my eyes wide and starring at the ceiling and my muscles tensing underneath a too-warm blanket. The more I looked at the clock, the slower the night seemed to tick by.

With a loud and aggravated huff, I threw the covers off my body and scrambled out of bed. A loud _bang_ went through the room as my foot came in contact with the corner of a end table, and a _woosh_-ing sound followed soon after as I lost my footing and ran into a lamp, my reflexes allowing me to catch it before it came crashing to the ground. My toes were throbbing, my eyes were itchy and straining and my body was curled in a ridiculous position due to my catching the lamp. With a loud grunt I twisted my body around even more and pushed the lamp back in place. I walked out the door with crazy strides, stupidly hoping that maybe if I got out of the room my insomnia would be cured and I could finally get some sleep. But, unsurprisingly, I was still wired when I found myself in the kitchen getting a glass of water.

The sliding glass doors showed the day that was outside, it was one of those perfect scenes that practically made happy little birds chirp in your head. I could tell from in here that it was a warm day and the subtle movements rocking through the trees made me yearn to feel the calm breeze. I felt wistful and yearning at the sight of that day taking place outside. A happy little place full of sunshine that the humans got to live in everyday; that was all I was anymore, a human. When I gave up my guardian status, I gave up who I was. Without that title that I worked so hard for in high school, I was just Rose Hathaway. I might as well have been human.

The quiet padding of feet on the floor alerted me to someone coming, and I turned around with a small smile, knowing that the only thing that could be in my house during the day was someone that I loved. I expected Sophie or Claire to come around the corner, or maybe Tasha, with the almost silent sound the feet were making. But instead a tired looking Dimitri came into the kitchen, dressed in only blue flannel pajama pants. I was instantly reminded of the time I knocked on his door when my mind was clouded with lust due to Victor's spell, how shocked I was when he revealed himself dressed much like he was now. Even though Dimitri was nearing the age of twenty-nine, the tough life of a guardian had kept his body in flawless shape. Even half asleep he was still beautiful.

He was rubbing his eyes but looked up with complete concentration when he discovered he wasn't alone in the kitchen. His body visibly relaxed when he saw it was me, his eyes softening; and then he tensed up again. His eyes were wandering down me now, a hungry expression on his face. I knew perfectly well what was going on in his head right now, and between the look on his face and the way he looked in those pants, I was quickly and completely carried away in the mood that was coming off of him in waves. I walked slowly towards him and placed my hand on his warm chest, his heart was beating steadily, if not a bit rapidly, and his eyes were dark and hooded. I gently coasted my hands up his chest, my eyes locked on his the entire time, until my hands held the back of his neck. I pulled him down, and our lips met in a soft, yet oh-so hungry kiss. His lips moved softly and seriously against mine and his hands wove around my back until he was clutching me to him with the desperation of a dying man. I couldn't get enough.

Since he had arrived here we never truly got the chance to just be together. There was always something keeping us apart, but now, it was just me and him; just us and the fact that we loved each other more than anything in the world. Dimitri's lips moved down my neck, and it wasn't until my lungs felt relief that I realized I need air. His hands were tangled in my hair and my fingers teased the back of his neck, my heart delighting in the shiver that ran through him when I brought my lips to his ear.

So far, the small time we spent together had been about getting to know each other again, but we really didn't need to do that. My lips knew his like they had never been separated in the first place, just the same way my body fit into his, or the way my heart felt when he was near. Love isn't flawless; it isn't about being with someone and never feeling angry or frustrated or never feeling the need to just have some space. Love is knowing that someone loves you not only in spite of your flaws, but for them. It's knowing that no matter how angry and annoyed and upset you might feel, you always find your way back to each other, simply because that's where you belong. Love is knowing that no matter how much space you put between you, you're never apart.

For so long I had despaired because I would never see Dimitri again, but that didn't stop the fact that every time I thought about him, the same feelings of love that I was feeling now coursed through my heart. I loved Dimitri whole-heartily, and I wanted to be with him in every way possible.

I grabbed Dimitri's hand and pulled him up the stairs behind me, we were both panting due to the kissing and my brain was so fogged with lust and love that I couldn't think straight. When we finally made our way to the hallway, I yanked him toward my room, my body jolting when he pulled me the opposite way toward his. In about three seconds my brain decided that his was closer and I let myself be pulled in his direction. He opened the door with shaking hands, cursing under his breath when he couldn't get the door opened. Normally, I would have found this endearing, but I was feeling about that same way. When he finally got the door opened, he slammed me against the wall of his bedroom, I felt the impact on my back, but I couldn't find it in me to care.

Our breathing was coming in gasps and pants and we could keep our bodies from touching; I wasn't sure if this was due to the lust or the fact that we just didn't want to be separated. I think it had a lot to do with both. When we finally made it to the bed, our clothes started a pile on the floor, and it wasn't long before I was practically begging for him; when we finally did come together, after so long, it was perfect.

**There are no words to express how sorry I am for the long wait, on both of my stories. I was having computer problems forever, and between that and the holidays it just got crazy. Anyway, I hope that this chapter was worth it, it's not my best or the longest…I blame any grammar mistakes on my New years eve night :D **

**I hope all of you had a great Christmas, Hanukah…or whatever you celebrate, and I hope that your 2011's are filled with lots of happiness. **

**Thank you all for sticking with me and my stories, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. **

**xoxo**

**-Lydia**


	20. Contest, Please Read!

Hello Readers! My last chapter that I posted for this story was severely lacking…I tried as hard as I could to write the sex scene between Rose and Dimitri, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't do it. So, for the sake of the story, and as a bit of a fun thing after my very, very long absence, I decided to have a contest.

Write the missing scene from the last chapter and submit it to me via private message. The contest starts today, January 2 and ends exactly one week from now on the 9th. I will read each and every submission and whichever I think is best, in both content and which is best fit for the story, will be submitted as the next chapter.

Some points about the contest:

All of the credit will go to the author of the scene, you!

Please, don't make this scene too dirty…I want all readers of all ages to be able to read this, and personally, I think it should be sweet. Just keep in mind that _sweet _doesn't mean it can't be sexy (wink, wink)

The only submissions that will qualify are the ones submitted within the time frame.

Don't be offended if I don't pick your story! It's nothing personal :D

I'm not even sure if anyone will take place in this contest, but I really hope you all give it a shot. Just have fun with it! I will be looking forward to reading your submissions!

Enjoy!


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